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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22487413">Frost and Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaykay_422/pseuds/Kaykay_422'>Kaykay_422</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Frost and Fire [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>And anxiety, Black OC, F/M, Female Character of Color, Loki was never an asshole, Mentions of Panic Attacks, My First Fanfic, Not Beta Read, OC is a badass, Original Character(s), Thor is an asshole, loki is a sweet heart, oc is old as hell, people just wanted him to be, soft!Loki, with as much curiosity as a cat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:39:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>37,986</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22487413</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaykay_422/pseuds/Kaykay_422</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Karai was the first-born daughter of the King and Queen of the Muspelheim, they were Fire Giants. She's lived in Midgard ever since a war took place in her realm and Odin refused to let any of the Nine Realms help them. So, her parents died and Karai and her best friend Julfr managed to escape before their realm was wiped out of the Universe. They escaped to Midgard and continued to spread the history of their people throughout the next generations of Fire Giants that came. 800 years go by and Karai lives in New York with her wolf companion, Gabe and has movie nights with Peter Parker and Wade Wilson. She was a highly trained assassin and was probably the most influential person on the planet at this point, but never chose to use her power. She was content...until a certain raven haired god of mischief decided to make an appearance in her life. At first it’s just to torment her, but what will she do when both Loki and Thor need her help to save Asgard? Should she turn her back like Odin did? Will she be able to resist the God of Mischief who seems to be a lot nicer than his reputation dubs him?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s), Loki (Marvel)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Frost and Fire [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1617946</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Mischief makes an appearance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first ever fanfiction. I started writing this about 5 years ago and then stopped. I just looked back at it for the first time in years and decided to revise it and finish it. I hope you like it. If not, that's okay too. I'm just happy to share what I've written for the first time. Please leave comments! I crave the feedback!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Karai was a simple woman. She liked to keep her dark hair straight because it was so unruly in its natural curly state. She liked to read books and watch pop culture tv shows. She was a mother and a widow. She liked wearing simple stuff, not one to keep up with fashion trends. Oh! And she killed for a living.</p><p>It was just like any other day. Karai was going to be flying out to Russia this week to do an assassination job. She was going to kill some stupid crime boss who was kidnapping young women for very disgusting and illegal purposes (you can probably guess what those purposes were). She was going through baggage check before boarding the plane when she got this odd feeling. It felt like someone was watching her. She quickly did a surveillance around, but saw no one. Not even the cameras in the airport were pointed directly at her. She got through security and was waiting at the gate to board. Suddenly, she felt it again. Someone was definitely watching her and it made her roll her eyes at how annoying this was. It wouldn’t be the first time someone hired a hitman to take her out, she wondered who was brave enough to try and kill an over 1300 year old goddess of fire today. She started humming that one song from years back that featured Michael Jackson (Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell)  in her head, and then she did another perimeter check, but no one had even paid attention to the fact that she even existed. Right then she knew what was going on. Whoever was looking for her did not want to be seen and knew how to prevent that. She closed her eyes, when she opened them again it was like she had put on a pair of infrared goggles. She no longer saw people as normal, now all she saw were heat signatures and, most importantly, seidr. She did another perimeter check and that's when she saw him. She knew that color of seidr anywhere. Hell, she knew that face anywhere. He obviously wasn’t cloaking himself from other magical beings because she could clearly see him. She had only seen him once before now and that was when he tried to take over Midgard a couple years ago. She told the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep it quiet because she wanted to stay out of the spotlight, but she fought the invasion with the Avengers. She was on ground control helping the police move people to safety while defending against the Chitari. </p><p>That was 4 years ago though. What was Loki doing back here after only 4 years?! She would have thought it would have been at least 300 years until she saw him again. A better question would be, why is he following her around?! Karai knew she wouldn't find out anything by just sitting here having a staring contest with him, but she couldn’t just walk up to him while he’s invisible. People would think she's crazy! She quickly decided that she was going to trick him. Sure he was the trickster god, but maybe she would get lucky and he would fall for it. She turned her head around and acted like she was just staring at blank space for a minute. Perhaps he didn’t know about her many abilities yet. She still had like half an hour until her flight left so she picked up her stuff and started walking through the airport. She kept walking while typing away on her phone with one hand. Anyone around her would just think she was texting, but she was really disabling the security cameras around her. She walked right up to a door that said “Employees Only” and went in. Through the door were hundreds of conveyor belts moving luggage throughout the airport. Loki had begun to grow suspicious, but before he could prepare for what happened next, he was being thrown back by a blast of fire to his chest. The blast shocked him so much that he turned visible again and soon he was being held to the ground with his hands behind his back.</p><p>“What are you doing here and why are you following me?”</p><p>He didn’t respond at first.</p><p>“Answer me!” she roared and pressed him further into the dirty floor as she started to heat up her hands that were holding him down and Loki soon became very aware.</p><p>“Are you insane woman?! Let go of me!”</p><p>“1. I’m far from sane and proud of it. And 2. Not until you answer my questions.”</p><p>“Never! How dare you treat me like this! Do you know who I am?! I’m -”</p><p>She cut him off mid sentence. She didn’t need to hear <em>that </em>speech again.</p><p>“Yes, yes I know. You’re Loki the god of mischief!” she said sarcastically, “We’ve all heard of you before. You tried to take over Midgard, remember.”</p><p>Loki was furious at the way she talked to him, but she didn’t care. She just wanted an answer to her questions and for him to stop following her. Trouble seemed to follow him and she did Not want to be stuck in the crossfire. Karai didn't even care if he was trying to take over Midgard again. If he did try something that stupid again, they would just stop him like last time. But she just didn’t want him around her causing trouble. </p><p>Karai knew Loki’s temperature ran lower than anyone else’s (just like her’s ran higher), but  he still took the same amount of time to burn as anyone else, only his hurt far more and healed as fast as humans (which was slow for their standards). Karai gave a small smirk, but when she did he smirked too. Suddenly Loki vanished from in front of her and she felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around she saw Loki standing there.</p><p>“Teleportation, huh? Well you’re not the only one with a few tricks up their sleeve.” she smirked while standing up. A mischievous grin grew across Loki’s face.</p><p>“Well, this should be fun then.”</p><p>“Would you like to take the first shot your highness?”</p><p>“Ladies first, I insist.” He was quite smug about it and she wanted to slap him across that pretty face of his. </p><p>“Alright, but can we hurry this up? My plane is leaving in like twenty minutes and I’d rather not miss it.”</p><p>“Fair enough." </p><p>She pulled her dagger out of a hidden compartment in her shoe and she immediately got in a ready position. Then, right as she was about to attack, the airport intercom rang out.</p><p>‘Attention, flight 212 to St. Petersburg, Russia is now ready to broad. Flight 212 to St. Petersburg, Russia is now ready to board.’</p><p>"Shit!” she cursed. Her flight must have arrived early. Even though it didn’t matter if she arrived in Russia late, she still didn’t want to miss her flight. She wanted to finish this mission, so she could go back home and binge watch that new show Lucifer.</p><p>Karai smiled and stood up straight after putting the dagger away.</p><p>“Sorry Loki, but we’ll have to finish this another time.”</p><p>She picked up her bag and headed for the door.</p><p>“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to catch.”</p><p>Karai left him standing there with a shocked look. What was wrong with him? Was he surprised that she chose to catch her flight instead of fighting him? Whatever it was, she had a feeling that she would soon find out. As she walked out of the door she looked back at Loki and saw that he was still staring at her.</p><p>She smiled at him and said, “Until we meet again, Loki.” then she walked out the door and raced to the gate.</p><p>He stood there shocked for a minute. </p><p>‘Did she just do all of that and then walk out right as they were about to fight?’</p><p> For a minute he forgot where he was, but he was quickly reminded of that when a Midgardian worker walked in and yelled at him.</p><p>“Hey! Who are you and what’re you doin’ back here? This is area is restricted. You’re comin’ with-”</p><p>Loki turned around and the man didn’t even finish his sentence as he was stricken with fear. Loki raised an eyebrow at him.</p><p>“I don’t believe I am going anywhere with you. Would you dare to challenge that, mortal?” </p><p>The man didn’t respond, he just darted for the door as quickly as possible, hoping to escape with his life. Loki nodded to himself and muttered a little under his breath.</p><p>“Wise decision”</p><p> Loki quickly put up a cloak of invisibility  and ran out of there without anyone knowing. He then headed for Karai’s flight gate and boarded the plane. He took a seat and then reappeared so that people would know someone is sitting there but he had already cast an illusion to appear as just an ordinary man on a business trip. As he sat there, he wondered why he was following her again. What is it about her? Why did he find her so intriguing? He felt like there was something behind those eyes that he was drawn to. Whatever it was, he knew for sure that he was going to find out. He watched as Karai boarded the plane and took a seat in 1st class, right in front of him to be exact And he smirked before he sat back to enjoy the ride.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes!” Karai made it to her flight with a little spare time. She quickly found her seat and whipped out her laptop and checked the airports security cameras again before take off. She looked everywhere but there was no sign of the god of mischief anywhere. She couldn’t even pick up on his magic. She looked at the screen puzzled for a moment, but then she just shrugged it off. She closed her laptop and put it away then she pulled out her iPod and stuck her into her ears headphones. She listened to her ‘Long Flight’ playlist as she closed her eyes. Before she could fully fall asleep though that feeling bubbled up inside of her again, like she was being watched. She tried to brush off the feeling and relax, but even as she slept, she still couldn’t completely shake off the feeling. </p><p>‘Dammit, he’s on the plane…’</p><p>She decided she would leave him be for now as long as he didn’t do anything stupid. Sleep was calling her and she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to answer that call.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So what do you think? Don't worry, it gets better. I posted this instead of doing my homework for university. Oops.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Taking a Client</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Loki is still following Karai but she's completely unfazed. Perhaps over 1300 years of life has made her wise enough to know he means no harm, or is she just losing it? Meanwhile, Kari's client is lying to her, so she gets the truth out of him the way only she can.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Omg! I'm so excited about this story. I'm going to be updating every Thursday.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Karai woke up as the plane was beginning to land. She was a little disturbed by a dream she’d had. In it she had been walking through a clothing store and all of the manikins had Loki’s face. She shuddered a little at the memory but summed it up to being because of a certain someone that currently sat behind her.</p><p>As soon as the plane arrived at the gate she bolted for the door, hoping that she could somehow beat the lines for customs, unfortunately she was a little too late. Lines were full and she glowered as she watched Loki walk right past everyone and through security, completely invisible to everyone else. Cheeky Bastard.</p><p>“Ahhh! Those lines were horrible.” Karai very loudly expressed her displeasure after waiting in several lines for 2 hours just to get into a country she’s been in a dozen times. She understood why the Avengers stuck to flying in the Quinjet, airports were too much chaos. At least she didn’t have to worry about getting stopped for autographs. </p><p>Karai headed towards pick up, her current client hadn’t given her an address so she assumed he’d sent someone to pick her up. As she was walking she noticed she had been joined once again by an invisible Loki and she rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone and held it to her ear before she spoke.</p><p>“So are you just going to follow me around until you get bored?” Loki looked at her puzzled for a moment and she sighed and looked directly at him, but to anyone else she would just look like she was looking at signs on the wall.</p><p>“Yes, I’m talking to you Mischief.” He looked slightly shocked but quickly calmed his expression now knowing she could see him and huffed in annoyance.</p><p>“I answer to no one, mortal.” He held his head high as he continued to walk. Karai hoped no one accidentally bumped into him, that definitely would not end well.</p><p>“Alright but I have a job to do though and I’ll be meeting up with my client soon. So if you’re going with me, then you’re going to have to stay unseen until I get done.” Loki still looked annoyed at but wasn’t about to leave. But he wasn’t going to willingly listen to her unless he absolutely needed to.</p><p>“And why would I do that?” </p><p>“Because if you don’t, everyone will see you and the Avengers will be on your ass faster than you can say ‘intergalactic wanted fugitive’.” He narrowed his eyes at her but relented.</p><p>“Very well, I shall remain unseen by mortal eyes for now. It’s already bad enough that I’m here, I don’t need those fools getting in my way.”</p><p>She nodded and hung up her phone right as she spotted her ride. It was a man with medium build in a black suit and sunglasses. He kind of looked like the Men In Black. She walked right up to the man and spoke in fluent Russian. Having learned All-Speak as a child, the many languages of Midgard were nothing to her.</p><p>
  <em>“I believe you are looking for me.”  </em>
</p><p>He looked Karai over once before motioning for her to follow him. He then led her out to a black Lexus IS 250c. A small smile crept up Karai’s face as she remembered her’s that was, which was a convertible, currently sitting back at her home in New York. As the man put her bags in the trunk she gestured for Loki to get in the car before getting in herself.The ride was quiet but not very long. Not even an hour later they were pulling in front of a large estate where another man greeted her before leading the way inside and into an office.</p><p>
  <em>“Ahh, Ms.Pozharnik. So, good to finally meet you.”  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Likewise, you must be Mr.Skvortsov.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Oh nonsense, please, call me Mark. Take a seat. And can I offer you a drink?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No thank you. I’m just fine.” I say as I sit down. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I trust your flight was alright.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yes. Very relaxing actually. I slept through the whole thing.” </em>
</p><p><em>“Well that is good to hear.” </em>He took a seat behind his desk and Karai sat down in one of the open chairs. She could see Loki standing in the corner of the room just patiently waiting and it only confused her more about his intentions but she shrugged it off for now.</p><p>
  <em>“Very well. I suppose you would like to get down to business then.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Indeed, now from reading your emails I understand why he deserves to die but what exactly is your motive?” </em>
</p><p><em>“That doesn’t concern you. All you need to focus on is making sure this man is dead.” </em>She raised a questioning eyebrow at him but then she shrugged nonchalantly.</p><p><em>“Well if that’s the case I think we’re about done here.” </em>She stood from her seat and stepped closer to shake his hand goodbye. Mark looked rather confused.</p><p>
  <em>“What do you mean?” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Well if you just want him dead then that’s easy. I’ll just set a simple gas leak and the place will blow itself up.” </em>
</p><p><em>“WHAT?! Y-You can’t do that! What about the others in there? Those are innocent people!” </em>She rolled her eyes at him as if this conversation was becoming so tiresome.</p><p><em>“Sure it will be some casualties, but it’ll be worth it in the end, trust me. From the way you make it sound, this man deserves death more than anyone else. And since the job is so easy, I’ll even drop my price for you. Have a good day Mr.Skvortsov.” </em>She casually headed for the door. When Mark stood up and shouted to his men.</p><p>
  <em>“STOP HER!” </em>
</p><p>About ten men, all with guns in their hands rush in. Two of them walked up to Karai and tried to grab her arms. She made easy work of disarming and incapacitating the two before looking at the rest with who were shocked at how fast she had taken them out. They pointed their guns at her and she rolled her eyes as she easily took 7 more of them out. She cracked her neck for emphasis as she looked at the last one standing. He was larger than her and visibly shaking. She smirked and decided not to harm him.</p><p>
  <em>“Honey, we both know this wouldn’t end well, why don’t you do yourself a favor and just put your gun down and just lie down on the ground for me.” </em>
</p><p>Obviously scared for his life, the man dropped the gun and slid it away from him before laying on the ground with all of his unconscious comrades. She nodded before turning to Mark and walking all the way up to his desk while taking out two daggers and a pistol that she had on her and set them on Mark’s desk.</p><p>
  <em>“Now, you’ve seen how easily I can take on your men without even working up a sweat and still leave them alive, which is a lot harder then just killing might I add. I could have killed them all in an instant and then turned and killed you and never bat an eye. I choose not to. Those who kill innocent people for fun sicken me. So I suggest you tell me Why you want that man dead right now, or I’ll have to add you to my list of corrupt clients that were never heard from again.” </em>
</p><p>Mark sat there still in shock and Karai gave him a moment to gather his thoughts. He finally shook his head a little as if to clear his thoughts before speaking.</p><p><em>“A-Alright, you win. I’ll tell you.” </em>Karai nodded her approval before collecting her weapons and sitting back down in her chair.</p><p><em>“Two weeks ago my daughter went missing. She was engaged to be married 3 days later. We assumed at first that she had gotten cold feet at the last minute. After not getting any word from her or anyone else for 28 hours, I had my soon to be Son-in-law, thoroughly questioned.” </em>Karai knew what that meant, she kinda hoped that his daughters fiance was still all in one piece.</p><p>
  <em>“I wasn’t going to let him go until I found my daughter...that was until I received an email from your target with a picture of my daughter attached and the words “Revenge is a dish best served cold” underneath. I’d hoped by hiring you, you could easily take him and his entire operation down and then I could have my men go in and save all of the civilians.” </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Why would you do that?” </em>
</p><p><em>“Well most hitmen don’t take rescue jobs.”  </em>He had a point, usually she didn’t take them either unless it mattered to her. Like that time when her grandson was 23 and managed to get himself kidnapped because he got too carefree with his abilities. </p><p><em>“Alright, here is what’s going to happen. I’m going to do exactly that. Go in, take out all of the bad guys, and leave. I really don’t like being seen, so sending in your men to do the rescue is the perfect cover up. It will look like I was never there. I’ll even give them all simple deaths so that it will look like it was your men and match any story you come up with. You can wire my payment after you have your daughter back. See? Wasn’t it a lot easier to just tell the truth?” </em>Karai stood up and smiled as she walked back to his desk and shook his hand. Mark smiled back but then Karai’s look turned deadly and she squeezed his hand and he tried to yank it back from the pain but failed and her grip grew tighter.</p><p><em>“However, if you ever lie again, I will Not be as merciful.” </em>She released his hand and he clutched it tightly staring at her in slight horror. She turned and started walking to the door. Some of the men she’d knocked out earlier were starting to stir, while others were still out cold...except for that one scared man, still lying stock still on the floor. She smirked before turning back around one last time, holding the door open as she spoke so a certain someone could get out undetected.</p><p>
  <em>“By the way, you were right about not saying this in the emails.” </em>
</p><p><em>“And why is that Ms.Pozharnik?” </em>At that, Karai smirked.</p><p>
  <em>“Because you were right, I don’t do rescue missions. I still kill for fun and money, just like any other hitman or assassin. I just go through the extra trouble of making sure no one is innocent.” </em>
</p><p>With that, she walked out the door and got back into the car that was waiting to take her to her hotel.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Pozharnik roughly translates to fire maker, according to google translate. I do not speak Russian so if someone who does could let me know if this is a bad use of the word and could let me know another good one, that would be great.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Mission Complete. We're going home?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Karai and Loki exchange some words and Loki finds out that there is a lot more to her then meets the eye. And he gets more and more intrigued by her as time goes. And why isn't Loki wreaking havoc? Is it possible he's turned over a new leaf? Or was he ever evil to begin with?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay, I'm am sooo excited about this chapter because *drum roll* this is the introduction of one of many original characters in this series, but this one is my all time favorite. I've fallen in love with them while writing this and I just know you all will too. They're actually based off of someone in real life and I'll tell you about them in a later chapter after you've gotten to know them better.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Getting to her hotel, unpacking, and preparing for her hit that night was easy. Figuring out what the hell to do with Loki while she was gone was proving to be more complicated than she’d thought. She wasn’t about to let him go with her, that would be too distracting. And leaving him here could work, but if he got bored that could be a problem as well. He did seem to be fairly civil while he’s been following her around all day though, maybe he could tag along and sit outside. The most that could happen is that someone saw him, it wasn’t like he couldn’t protect himself.</p><p>“Are you thinking or are you actually stuck like that?” His snarky comment snapped Karai out of her trance. She hadn’t realized she had been standing in the middle of the room staring at nothing. She glared at him before continuing to unpack her equipment.</p><p>“So I do have something that I have to do tonight. You’re welcome to tag along as long as you stay out of the way like today.” He scoffed at her. She had the audacity to tell him to stay out of her way.</p><p>“I have yet to understand how you think that you can give <em>Me </em>orders, mortal. And what makes you think I’ll want to follow you on your little assassination?” She didn’t bother looking at him, just pulled out her laptop and started typing away.</p><p>“Firstly, I was just offering. You’re welcome to stay here if you want, I just wouldn’t recommend going out of that door unless you put up an illusion. Plenty of people in Russia know of the god of mischief that tried to reinstate Hitler’s Dictatorship in Germany. Secondly, I’m not a mortal, puny god.” She smirked at the last part and she could see that agitated him. He glared at her until he vanished from his seat. She wondered if he’d decided to finally leave, until she felt him materialize behind her and press a dagger to her throat.</p><p>“I suggest you never refer to me as that-” He stopped when he felt a sharp pain and looked down to see a dagger in his leg. She’d actually stabbed him! And she still wasn’t even bothering to look and acknowledge his presence.</p><p>“I learned to stab first and ask questions later a long time ago. Also, I suggest you remove the dagger from my throat.” At first he stood there shocked, brain still registering that she had actually stabbed him. By the time it finally registered, he was fuming. He yanked the dagger out of his leg.</p><p>“You’ll pay for that one, witch!” He pressed the knife harder against her throat.</p><p>“Are you sure about that?” Karai smirked, still looking at her computer screen.</p><p>“I may be the god of lies, but revenge is something I enjoy far too much to lie about.”</p><p>“Oh, so you are a bloodthirsty killer after all? Man who’s responsible for New York? The same one that turned around and fought the Dark elves with Thor to <em>save </em>the Nine realms from the Aether?”</p><p>“How do you know about tha-”</p><p>“Thor has a very hard time keeping his mouth shut, even when sober. Though, I doubt he knows that you are alive?” She smirked again, starting to find that messing with the god to be quite fun.</p><p>“You have no right to question me woman! I can kill you right now and your life would mean nothing to me!” Karai tilted her head very slightly, careful to mind the blade against her neck, but just enough to see Loki out of the corner of her eye. She narrowed her eyes, challenging him.</p><p>“Then do it. Kill me. Prove to the universe that you really are the monster that they think you are. Do it. I dare you.”</p><p>“You challenge me, mortal? You dare gamble with your life?”</p><p>“Hell, yes I do. It wouldn’t be the first time. Kill me. Send me to Valhalla right now. I have people I want to see anyway.” Loki grew more and more angry and yet convicted. He had no real desire to kill her, but she couldn’t know that with his reputation. Her words seemed to resonate within his mind, <em>‘Prove to the universe that you really are the monster that they think you are.’ </em>he had never wanted to be considered a monster in the first place. Could he really kill this aggravating woman that was actually being kind to him? He stubbornly yanked the knife away from her throat.</p><p>“I need not waste my energy trying to kill you. A woman with a death wish is bound to end up dead anyway.”</p><p>“When?” Karai said flatly and it caught Loki off guard.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“When will I end up dead, genius? I’ve been waiting for a while now. Like I said, I have people that I want to see.” Karai held a bright smile as he walked away from her. She was really just teasing him, life was precious to her and she cherished every second. But how could she pass up an opportunity to mess with Loki? He sat down in a chair, still looking rather annoyed about the entire situation. A moment of silence fell between the two until Loki finally decided to speak up.</p><p>“I shall stay here. I feel that I would grow rather bored watching you fight for your insulient little life.” </p><p>“Very well, have fun with that. Do me a favor though, don’t get into too much trouble. I don’t need the police after me. I lost my diplomatic immunity here about 10 years ago. Having to break out of jail can be quite bothersome.” With that, she stood up, grabbed her bag, and stepped into the bathroom to change. When she returned she now wore an all black tactical suit and black combat boots and her straight hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She strapped on all of her gun and knife holsters, choosing to leave her katana behind. Loki was still sat in the same chair only now he had a book in his hand and looked completely at home. She really didn’t understand him. Why was a homicidal maniac sitting in her hotel room reading? She chose to ignore it for now. The motorcycle that she’d asked for was already waiting for her downstairs and the sooner she finished this job, the better. She grabbed her bags and headed out the door, looking back at Loki one last time before closing the door and leaving to knock out this quick hit.</p><p>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Karai returned back to her hotel room 4 hours later, wincing a little. There was a large blood stain on her abdomen where she’d been stabbed rather deeply. The wound was already halfway closed but it still needed stitches. Loki looked up at her briefly before looking back down.</p><p>“I’m guessing the midgardians proved to be too strong for you little mortal?” </p><p>“Actually the average Midgardians proved to be easier than I thought. But I underestimated my target slightly. They had a team of 10 Enhanced Midgardians that tried to ambush me. One managed to sink a rather large blade into me while I was distracted fighting 3 more.”</p><p>“So I’m guessing you were overpowered and had to escape while you could?” She smirked at how weak he thought she was.</p><p>“I believe you misunderstood me. I said they <em>Had </em>a team. My mission was still complete with no problem.” </p><p>She went to the bathroom to address her wound and came back out in sweatpants and a hoodie, leaving her hair in a ponytail. She grabbed her laptop and sat down in her bed with headphones and started blasting music before folding her laptop into a tablet and continuing reading the book she’d started the previous day. Hours went by in silence and it was 3am when Loki finally asked the question that had been puzzling him.</p><p>“Aren’t you going to sleep, mortal?”</p><p>“No, don’t need to.”</p><p>“Now even I know that all creatures require sleep, especially you mortals.” she rolled her eyes at his excessive use of the word Mortal.</p><p>“If you must know, I am currently dealing with something Midgardians refer to as Jet Lag. You see, it is currently day time in New York, and my body is adjusted to that time frame. So even if I wanted to sleep right now, I probably would struggle to do so.” </p><p> “...Plus, I don’t trust you enough not to do something to me in my sleep.” She added matter of factly. </p><p>“Very well, when do we leave this infurnal place?” She raised her eyebrow at his use of the word ‘We’. </p><p>“Uhh, well I leave for my flight home in about 2 hours. But you’re free to leave whenever you wish.” He never responded and a brief silence fell before he spoke again.</p><p>“So I’m guessing Pozharnik is not your real name?”</p><p>“That is correct.”</p><p>“What might your name be than?” She smirked and briefly looked up from her tablet.</p><p>“Wouldn’t you like to know, Mischief?” He had figured she wouldn’t tell him.</p><p>“Far enough, what might I call you then since referring to you as mortal seems to irritate you so?” She held a hand to her chest and fake gasped.</p><p>“Are you actually trying to learn more about me and spare my feelings?” He rolled his eyes.</p><p>“I never said I was going to stop calling you mortal, I just prefer to know what my options are.” She actually chuckled a little.</p><p>“Alright Mischief, if you truly want to know your options, you can still call me Pozharnik. I enjoy going by that name. Some Russian/German organization gave it to me about 50 years ago and I’ve kinda stuck with it since. Always a nice reminder of what I am.” Her voice trailed off toward the end as she thought for a moment.</p><p>She held up her hand and her skin slowly changed until it looked like molten lava and rock before it was swallowed in flames. She looked at it smiling for a bit before extinguishing the flames and going back to reading. Karai felt more than saw Loki staring at her quizzically but ignored it. There were many questions he had but would not be getting the answers to.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Hours later, Karai and Loki were getting off the plane in New York. Though she still didn’t trust him, he wasn’t causing any trouble and was fairly quiet. He was actually borderline pleasant to be around. When she reached her little home in Queens she sighed in relief. There really was no place like home. As she stepped inside she was suddenly tackled by an extra large ball of fur.</p><p>“Gabe! I’ve missed you so much!” Loki stood a few steps behind her watching as Karai was greeted by the rather large dog when another head popped around the corner. He hadn’t realized someone else was there and didn’t have time to put up his illusions before-</p><p>“H-Hey Ms.Karai, you’re back early.”</p><p>“Hi Peter, yes my job finished early.” She got up and reached into her bag to hand Peter what she owed him.</p><p>“Thanks again for watching Gabe for me. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate it. I just fear they might find out what he is if I put him into one of those kennels.” She was knelt down petting Gabe again. She had found him as a pup. It didn’t take her long however to find out he was actually part wolf, and not having gotten him from a breeder, She couldn’t find out how much wolf DNA he had and she couldn’t risk getting him taken away because 1st generation wolf hybrids were illegal in New York.</p><p>It took Karai a moment to realize that Peter was standing stock still. She looked up to see that he and Loki were in a staring match and the young boy looked terrified as Loki glared at him.</p><p>“Oh! How rude of me! I almost forgot introductions.” She quickly stood up between the two.</p><p>“Loki, this is Peter Parker. He’s a young boy who lives in my neighborhood that I often call to watch Gabe when I’m out of town. Peter, I’m sure you know who Loki is. Apparently he’s staying with me”</p><p>Peter was standing with his fists clenched and like he was ready to attack at any moment.</p><p>“Ms.Karai, are you sure that’s a good idea? You know what he’s done. How can you trust him? And what if the Avengers find out?” Karai smiled at him.</p><p>“Peter it’s quite simple. I don’t trust Loki at all. Which is exactly why I’m letting him stay around. The more he’s around me, the less mischief he can cause elsewhere. As for the Avengers, well I think Loki is the least of their worries right now. And Fury’s known me longer than he’s known anyone else, he knows he can trust me.” At that he relaxed a little but still seemed visibly nervous. So, he just nodded before going to grab his stuff. He waved a quick goodbye before leaving.</p><p>“Such a nice kid.”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>What do you think? Don't worry, we're gonna see a lot of Gabe in this series. I'm not telling you who he's based off until the next chapter and you'll see why.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Got To Give It UP</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What do you do when you have a homicidal maniac, who tried to enslave the planet, living in your house? You make them breakfast and play some Marvin Gaye. And Gabe? Well he's happy to join in. New things come to light and questions are answered. But do the answers make sense? Or do they just raise even more questions?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I was totally listening to Marvin Gaye when writing this. Also its just a coincidence that I have an assignment due for University tomorrow. I'm definitely not avoiding working right now. We get more of Gabe in this chapter! I've totally fallen in love with Gabe and I'll talk about who he's based off of at the end of this chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After Peter left, Karai had realized that she had eaten nothing except airplane food for the past 24 hours. She quickly cooked something for herself, Loki, and Gabe. She’d let Loki use the guest room before going to her own and letting Gabe curl up with her while she finally began watching Lucifer. Several hours later, Karai watched from her rooftop as the sun rose over New York. This certainly was one of the perks of not sleeping at night.</p><p>Loki walked into the kitchen to find Karai making breakfast. She was dancing around the kitchen while singing a song that he assumed was Midgardian. She had been singing ‘Got to Give It Up’ by Marvin Gaye. Her dark hair was now in it's naturally curly state and it bounced freely as she danced. She looked so happy in her own world and Gabe even joined her in her dancing and began following her around the kitchen happily wagging his tail. He even stood up on his hind-legs at a point and tried to mimic Karai as she danced. When he stood up Loki raised an eyebrow. This creature was enormous. He easily stood over Karai and slightly over Loki. It was a good thing Karai had high ceilings. As Gabe settled back down, Karai turned around while laughing to find Loki standing at the kitchen entrance and greeted him happily.</p><p>“Morning Mischief. I’m finishing up breakfast now. Go ahead and take a seat.” Loki nodded and sat down and soon a plate of blueberry pancakes, eggs, and sausage was sat in front of him.</p><p>“How do you like your coffee?” Karai had asked him but after not getting a response she turned around and saw him staring quizzically at her and she just gave him a soft smile. She then proceeded to add two sugars and a cream into his coffee. Thor had once told her that he enjoyed black coffee, and she had a hunch that Loki was a polar opposite. Her hunch was confirmed and she had to hold back her laughter when she placed Loki’s coffee down beside him. He had already drenched his pancakes in syrup and was quickly devouring the stack she had placed in front of him. </p><p>“I’m guessing you enjoy sweets?” He didn’t respond, just continued to clean his plate. She sat down to begin eating and watched out of the corner of her eye as Loki tested his coffee. She watched as his eyes lit up as he drained his mug.</p><p>“This is delectable. Please, I request another.” He held up his mug to Karai and she snickered a little before responding. At least he wasn’t throwing his mug on the floor like Jane had said Thor had done. Despite Loki being a snob and growing up under the same roof as Thor, he seemed a lot less.. barbaric. Loki seemed to actually conduct himself as that of a nobleman when it came to manners.</p><p>“I’m kind of in the middle of eating right now, but you can feel free to get as much as you’d like. The pot is right over there.” She gestured to the pot and Loki raised an eyebrow before casually standing and getting up to fill his mug again. </p><p>He’d gotten slightly irritated at first when she told him to get his own coffee, but based on how gracious of a host she’d been so far, he decided to let it go. Loki took a sip of his coffee only to do a hilarious spit take. </p><p>“Dear god! What is this monstrosity?!” It was bitter! Extremely bitter. What had happened to the sweet and savory beverage he’d drank a few seconds ago?! Karai stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing to the point that it brought tears to her eyes. Loki stared at her and slowly grew angry. Had this been a prank? When she finally calmed herself she stepped over to Loki and took his mug and added all the good stuff.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you that you have to add sugar and cream, like when making certain teas.” She handed him back the mug and he cautiously took another sip and hummed in satisfaction. Karai couldn’t hold back the smile on her face. These Asgardians were like children at times.</p><p> </p><p>After finishing her breakfast and cleaning the kitchen, Karai got up and walked over to the open expanse of the living room and whistled for Gabe. She smiled as he walked over wagging his tail. She dropped down into a ready stance and Gabe followed suit. With that, the wrestling match began. The two went back and forth trying to pin the other down and all the while Loki watched in amazement. Finally after 20 minutes, Karai relented.</p><p>“I give up, you win big guy.” He licked her face before climbing off her and walking into the kitchen to get himself a treat out of the cupboard. He’d taught himself to do that after being with Karai for 9 months and it still made her laugh.</p><p>“Quite an extraordinary creature.”</p><p>“Indeed he is. You have wolves on Asgard, no?”</p><p>“Yes, but none like this. The wolf is a sacred creature on Asgard. It is not rare to go hunting and see a pack. But, in all my years, I’ve never seen his kind before.”</p><p>“What do you mean ‘His kind’?” She was confused. If they had wolves there, obviously hybrids were not unheard of then. Though Gabe did possess a few <em>special </em>qualities that other wolves didn’t. She always assumed it was because of where she rescued him from.</p><p>“Are you unaware of what this creature is?” Loki had been paying very close attention to Gabe ever since he first saw him the day before.</p><p>“Besides being extremely loving and caring, I have no clue. All I know is that he’s part wolf and part dog i guess, though I haven’t narrowed down what possible breeds yet. Whatever it is, they have a very long lifespan. Gabe’s already 19 and he still bounces around like a puppy.”</p><p>“Well that’s probably because he is.” He stated matter of factly and Karai frowned.</p><p>“I don’t follow.” Loki just sighed.</p><p>“Have you ever heard of Fenrir?”</p><p>“You mean the giant wolf that supposedly stood like 20 feet tall that Midgardians believe is your son?” She snickered and Loki glared and mumbled something about stupid Midgardians.</p><p>“He is Not my son. And neither is the damned eight legged horse!” Karai was still holding back her laughter but managed to calm it down so Loki would continue.</p><p>“Fenrir is an ancient wolf, a guardian of all wolves. They are believed to all be descendants of him in some way, however that old wolf is still believed to be alive and nurturing his lineage to ensure that when his time finally comes, his bloodline shall never die. I believe yours is a son of Fenrir.” Karai stared at him in shock for a moment before a huge grin slowly spread across her face.</p><p>“That is the coolest thing I have ever heard.”</p><p>Karai went about asking questions for a while regarding Gabe, of which Loki did not have all of the answers. He told her of the things he’d read and heard, which wasn’t much. Only that children of Fenrir were likely to be larger than average wolves and had a much longer lifespan, so there was a possibility that Gabe could get a little bigger. He also told her how he’d heard a tale that they were smarter than average, almost like that of a human child. Which Karai could attest to. She’d found that Gabe could fully understand everything she said, he just couldn’t speak to her, but he used his body language a lot more than average dogs. It sometimes reminded her of Scooby Doo. Loki also said that it’s believed they can develop a very strong bond with a person of their choosing, a wolf’s loyalty was stronger than any other animal. After hearing that Karai smiled and kissed Gabe’s head as he tried to fit his gigantic body on her lap, to which she laughed  and tried to push him off, and failed. She ended up laying on the floor with Gabe lying on top of her like a pillow.</p><p>Loki watched their loving exchange in a bit of awe. It amazed him, the bond that these two had. But he was more fascinated by the woman currently being used as a pillow for a wolf. How was she so carefree and happy? With everything that he’s heard has happened to Midgard, why on earth was she so happy? Especially someone in her line of work. He hadn’t realized he was staring at her until Karai looked at him and tilted her head.</p><p>“What are you thinking Mischief?” He shook his head from his trance like state and she smiled and sat up. She’d realized it was time to get some answers, despite how pleasant Loki had actually been lately. She needed to make sure he was not just here to by time for some impending doom.</p><p>“Alright Mischief, now I’ve got some questions for you. Why are you on earth?” She hadn’t changed her expression. She still had that same carefree look on her face that confused him even more. Was she trying to interrogate him or get him to tell her a bedtime story. But he quickly put back on his stoic expression.</p><p>“That is none of your concern mortal. I am a god, I can come and go anywhere as I please. No cell here nor on Asgard can hold me.”</p><p>“Yeah, even I know that was all a lie. For a god of lies, you aren’t very good at it.” He glowered at her.</p><p>“Very well, if it will shut you up, Thor returned to Asgard.” That was all he said and Karai urged him to continue. He rolled his eyes, knowing she would not let this go. He found himself telling her everything to his own surprise. He told of how he faked his death while fighting the dark elves and then masqueraded as Odin. He had known Thor would return one day which is why he’d set a few guards at the gate to the Bi-frost. One managed to inform him of Thor’s return and Loki was quickly able to stage Odin falling into Odin’s Sleep for the people of Asgard. Once he’d set an illusion in Odin’s capsule, he escaped Asgard through a hidden portal and landed on Midgard. His plan was to return to Asgard as Loki in a few days time and act as if he was saved and healed. Then either Thor would willingly hand Loki the throne until Odin awakened so he could continue to wonder about the Nine Realms, or he’d have Odin awaken and see Loki fit to be king and relinquish the throne. Either way, things would work out perfectly. Unfortunately for Loki, what had started off as a 3 day plan, had turned into 2 weeks.</p><p>“Wait, you’ve been here hiding for two weeks? Why didn’t you go back?”</p><p>“Well I was trying to. But when I tried to go back through the portal, it was gone. And apparently no one is guarding the Bi-frost gate because I’ve called multiple times. I stopped calling after I felt my illusion of Odin evaporate.”</p><p>“Which means…” Karai’s eyes widened a little and Loki just nodded solemnly. <em>Thor now knew Loki was alive </em>. And he probably was not happy after finding out he’d been tricked again. Karai sighed at this revelation. Asgard had more royal family drama than the U.K. when Princess Diana was divorcing Prince Charles. Karai’s brow furrowed as she realized something.</p><p>“But why did you start following me?” Loki looked up at her with wide eyes. He’d forgotten to tell her that part.</p><p>“Ah, yes well, you see I was on my way to finally enlist the council of another sorcerer I’ve recently heard about that resides here on Midgard. They say he’s a very strange man. And then I saw you and you looked so familiar. I don’t fraternize with Midgardians, so if you looked familiar to me then you had to be of some importance. Didn’t take me long to figure out that you don’t associate yourself with those blasted Avengers. I was going to leave you alone because you seemed rather dull. But then you actually managed to catch me off guard and nearly burned me. Of course after that I obviously couldn’t just leave.” A mischievous grin spread across Loki’s face and Karai huffed out a light laugh. She stood up and proceeded into the kitchen for a glass of water while continuing the conversation.</p><p>“You know, they say curiosity killed the cat.”</p><p>“Yes, but what is life without a little danger?”</p><p>“Good point. Alright, the man you were looking for is not a <em>“Strange man”. </em>His name is Doctor Strange and yes he is quite powerful. Enough to be the guardian of an Infinity Stone and has proved to be worthy of doing so. I’ve had tea with him a few times. The two of you are actually very much alike, I’ll see about arranging a tea with him soon. He actually may be the only man to help you get back to Asgard.” Loki looked shocked. She was trying to help him? He narrowed his gaze at her.</p><p>“What do you get out of this? Of helping me return to Asgard?” She shrugged.</p><p>“Absolutely nothing. You go home, I go back to living alone with Gabe. It’s not like you’ve been bothersome. Your company hasn’t been terrible at all. I mean, you’ve only been here a day, but I’m not trying to kill you or telling the Avengers to get you out of my house. I think that’s a pretty good sign that I don’t hate you. Despite everything you’ve done, I’ve seen Midgardians practically do the same thing to each other over and over again. It doesn’t justify what you’ve done. But, it does make it less of a shock. I feel you weren’t acting of your own free will either, even if you are choosing not to say anything. So, in the end, the only benefit I get out of helping you is seeing you happy. And maybe keep you from trying to take over Midgard again.” She chuckled at the last part but Loki just looked puzzled. He was really wearing his emotions on his sleeves today. Or maybe Karai was just that good at reading people. Though he wouldn’t acknowledge it, she was right about him not acting of his own free will. But how did she know?</p><p>“So, I only have one last question for you, Mischief. What are you going to do when you get back to Asgard?”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, 4 years ago my aunt got this puppy not knowing his breed. Turns out he is a Labrador Retriever, German Shepard, and Siberian Husky mix. She didn't know that you have to train large dogs or they can get a little out of control at times. Well, his name is Samuel and he drives her crazy and she loves him so much. He steals her clothes, opens his own cage, and hides his boxes of treats so he can get one out when he wants to. But he loves my aunt so much, that is her baby. My aunt has a son in his 20s and whenever he comes home to visit, Samuel goes crazy. My aunt taught Samuel at a young age that he had a big brother so he keeps one of my cousin's old blankets so he always has his scent as well. He makes messes all over the living room with his toys, won't let her sleep if she doesn't complete his nightly routines, and knows how to open the fridge. So my aunt makes him breakfast at times (pancakes, eggs, bacon, she spoils him) and he watches her until she puts his plate in the freezer to cool down, then he goes and sits in his cage to wait on his food. And if it takes too long, he comes back to see what is taking her so long. So, that's the story. We're gonna have lots of lovable Gabe in this series all thanks to Samuel. Gabe is going to be a lot more well trained, lol. He's just going to be extremely smart, lovable, and loyal, which are all the qualities we love about our four-legged- friends.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Merc With a Mouth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Wade Wilson makes an appearance.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <strong>“What are you going to do when you get back to Asgard?”</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>Those words had been running through Loki’s head since his illusion of Odin disappeared, yet now that they had been said out loud, it seemed all the more serious. Of course he had been trying to come up with a plan for a while now, he just had yet to come up with a good one. </p><p>Things really had changed in the past years. Before, he had been begging for acceptance. Wanting to please his <em>father </em>so much, that he’d listened to Thor. His idiotic adopted brother had been the one to concuct the plan to slay the Jotuns, then the revelation of his true birth came out and all he felt was hurt and anger. Then, he was controlled by Thanos and New York happened. Truth be told, he didn’t mind staying in the dungeon in Asgard. It was quite luxurious, for him at least, and when his mind was free, he’d felt extreme amounts of guilt for what had happened. But no one would ever believe that he was actually nothing more than a puppet in that attack, he was the God of Mischief and Lies. No, it was better for him to just accept his fate and live out life in the dungeons. But, sadly Thor ruined that. Constantly threatening him and making him to be nothing more than a way to save his precious midgardian. Didn’t even come and try to get him until <em>after </em>their dear mother was already gone. When he’d seen the palace was under attack, it was the first time since being sentenced that he actually tried to escape. Then he nearly was killed in that battle field, but Thor had just left him in the middle of it. He’d just assumed Loki was dead, when he was actually just on the brinks of it. And it was proven that he was still very much alive when he awakened hours later in that same battle field. Loki had awakened in his Jotun form, as his body had automatically done that in weakness, and to faster heal his wounds. When he realized that Thor had left and didn’t even bother to try to drag his lifeless body somewhere out of remorse, he was broken. The last possible remaining faith that he had in Thor actually caring about him was gone. That was why he HAD to take Asgard. As revenge for all that the people, excluding Frigga, had put him through. Only problem was that he still found himself unable to kill Odin, and he couldn’t even destroy Asgard. He just couldn’t stand to see the kingdom fall without a king. So, he took over and the kingdom flourished beyond measure. His mother would’ve been proud, aside from the means of him becoming king. Then Thor had to come and ruin that too. Thor made everyone believe that he was so innocent, no one really knew who he was on the inside except Loki, and probably Frigga, but she never did anything about it.</p><p>Coming up with a plan to get back to Asgard and what to do after was taking Loki so long because he honestly wasn’t sure he wanted to go back. He was contemplating actually just hiding for the rest of his life in another realm, midgard wasn’t even looking so bad to him right now. Sure, everyone would resent him for what he had done in the past, but perhaps he could disguise himself for a century or two, at least until the next generations of midgardians forgot what he looked like, they did before.</p><p>He’d been avoiding using seidr for a while, he knew the midgardians weren’t that far behind intelligence wise, and with that Stark fellow, they’d probably soon find a way to detect magic. And if that <em>Dr. Strange </em>was all that people said he was, then he could quite possibly very easily find Loki. Yep, little magic at a time was his best bet for now.</p><p>With so many thoughts running through Loki’s head, he’d completely missed the sound of the window in Karai’s living room shattering, but after hearing the sound of a gunshot, he quickly rushed out of his room and into the living room. What he saw was both shocking and confusing.</p><p>There was a man in a tight red suit with a bullet wound in his chest, hugging Gabe completely unphased. And Karai was stood there holding a gun in her hand and her arms crossed with a deep look of annoyance.</p><p>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>“What the actual fuck Wade? Why didn’t you just use your key?! I specifically gave it to you so you WOULDN’T break into my house!” </p><p>Yes, Wade Wilson was sat on Karai’s living room floor cuddling Gabe, with a bullet wound where she shot him out of annoyance.</p><p>“I’m sorry Princess Mononoke, but the author needed an exciting cut to the next scene, and your friendly, neighborhood Deadpool was here to help as always.”</p><p>Karai rolled her eyes at the idiotic merc with a mouth but a smirk grew across her face as she noticed he was wearing his Crocs again. She put her gun away, smiled at a very confused Loki, and proceeded to head to the kitchen to make popcorn. If he was wearing those shoes, then it must be movie night again. Which meant any minute now, Peter would be showing up with the movie(s) for the night, and his overnight bag. Karai was the only person, besides Ned, that Aunt May trusted Peter to have sleepovers with. And so, once a month, Karai, Wade, Gabe, Peter, and on rare occasions Ned, made it a priority to watch a movie at Karai’s house. Wade looked up and finally noticed Loki standing there and did an emoji like gasping face.</p><p>“OH MY FUCKING GOSH! Princess! Why didn’t you tell me you got a Loki strippergram?!” Wade stood up and skipped over to Loki and just before he could lay a hand on him…</p><p>“That’s not a stripper Wade, it’s the real Loki.” Wade froze on the spot. And then he continued and touched Loki’s chest plate. To which, Loki responded by having a dagger materialise and holding it at Wade’s throat. Wade fanned his face dramatically.</p><p>“Ooo, kinky.” He then proceeded to slap Loki across the face and take out one of his swords and hold it next to Loki’s head, at which Loki stood very still. He could sense that the man in front of him did not mind killing whatsoever.</p><p>“Sadly I don’t do that with wanted Hitler impersonators on the first date anymore. Also, I know they say size doesn’t matter but..” Wade put his hand up to his mouth to act as if he were whispering. “Mine’s is bigger!” Loki smirked at him mischievously.</p><p>“You should know, it’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it.” With that, Loki quickly knocked the sword out of Wade’s hand, quickly had two daggers materialise, and pinned Wade to the wall with the magic, then he held it his daggers at Wade’s throat again. Loki just stood there looking smug. But he just grew more confused with Wade’s next comment.</p><p>“Wow, that was hot. I gotta say, that was my first time with a god. You up for round 2? I’m already turned on...and wet?” At that Wade looked down and Loki followed his gaze, only to be mortified by the sight. The man’s hand was cut off. Instant guilt crept in. He had only been trying to prove a point. But now he’d just handicapped the man for the rest of his life. He looked around and saw Wade’s hand next to his sword which was now bloodied. It had to have been cut off by accident when the sword came crashing down. It only made Loki feel worse. And that happened to be the moment Karai walked back into the room.</p><p>“Guys, popcorn is read-...” She paused at the sight of Loki standing with a dagger and Deadpool pinned to a wall with daggers at his throat and waving at her with a missing hand. She just sighed and shook her head. </p><p>“I swear Wade, can’t you go one night without getting something cut off?”</p><p>“Aw, Mononoke love, you care so much about my well being!” He placed his hand on his heart in a loving gesture as Karai came over and took the daggers out of Loki’s hands and Loki released him from the wall. At Wade’s comment though, she quickly stabbed him in the shoulder and Wade hissed in pain.</p><p>“I care about all of your extra limbs being left here and I’m the one who has to dispose of them.” She punctuated her sentence by twisting the knife and then removing it again and handing them both back to Loki. Wade and Karai then proceeded to sit on the couch and Karai patted the couch, gesturing to Loki to have a seat. He’d finally had enough of their games however and spoke up.</p><p>“I’m sorry, but am I the only one aware that I just cut off his hand? Are you not upset or angry that I have permanently caused him bodily harm?” At that, Wade and Karai looked at each other before bursting out in laughter.</p><p>“Ha! Permanent! That’s a good one Emerald city!” Wade was laughing hysterically and Loki was beginning to get annoyed with both of them. Karai saw this and finally calmed herself enough to speak.</p><p>“Mischief, Wade isn’t normal. He’s been mutated so that he pretty much can’t die. All of his injuries heal pretty much instantly and his limbs grow back. Didn’t you pay attention to his bullet wound?” Loki had completely forgotten that Karai had shot him. When he looked at Wade, he saw the hole in his clothing, but the skin underneath was completely healed. He was amazed. Karai smiled and patted the couch again.</p><p>“Come on, we’re about to watch a movie as soon as Peter gets here. You can join our monthly tradition.” Loki was hesitant but sat down anyway. When he did, Gabe finally made his way over to the small group. Wade held out his arms, awaiting Gabe to sit in his lap as always, but surprisingly, Gabe went and sat next to Loki and laid his head on his lap. Wade looked extremely hurt and Karai just laughed.</p><p>“I guess someone has taken a liking to you Mischief.” Loki didn’t respond, he just softly petted the wolf’s head.</p><p>Soon enough, Peter arrived and movie night could officially begin. </p><p>“Sorry I’m late. Ned backed out at the last minute. He said Wade made him really uncomfortable last time and he still can’t get the image out of his head.”</p><p>“Aww! Dammit Wade! You scarred the kid!”</p><p>“It was only a joke! I wasn’t actually yankin it. I was just trying to mess with their heads!” Karai just shook her head and told Peter to put the movie on. None of them had watched it yet. It was some suspense movie called Gone Girl. If only poor Peter had bothered to pay attention to the rating.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. When the night has come, and the land is dark</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Movie night wasn't as good as they had hoped. Loki finally realizes that Karai isn't sleeping and decides to confront her.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>New warning in this chapter. Mentions of hunting deer and rabbit and carving and storing animal meat.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Karai was in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone. They had stayed up well into the morning watching different movies to try and get Gone Girl out of Peter’s head. Poor kid had been scarred. He didn’t know the movie was R rated for <em>that </em>reason. Wade had laughed when the first X rated scene started and Peter’s entire face turned scarlet. Karai had offered to turn on a different film for Peter’s sake, but he refused, saying that everyone else should miss out because he felt awkward. Eventually Peter just decided to cover his eyes and Karai felt bad for the poor kid, all the while, Wade kept making lewd comments, and Loki kept pointing out things that they were doing wrong. </p><p>“Is this really how midgardians have sex?” to which both Wade and Karai responded ‘No.’ They had spent the rest of the night watching Disney films to help introduce Loki to Midgardian fairy-tales and to help repair Peter’s brain. Sure he was a teenager, but watching sex in a movie with other adults around talking about it still made it a traumatic experience.</p><p>Karai was making chocolate chip pancakes this morning for everyone. It was already noon, but who cared. Everyone, except Karai, had been asleep this morning by 5am. After they fell asleep, Karai had gotten up and shook Gabe awake. It was time for his weekly hunt. Wade and Peter knew that Karai took Gabe hunting every week and it just so happened that their movie night fell on the night before hunting day. They always just slept in, knowing she would wake them for breakfast. Of course, Loki did not know this and just stared at Karai quizzically as she had gotten in her pick-up truck that she had for these trips with Gabe and drove away. She had been wearing a pair of cargo pants, combat boots, a tank top, and a camouflage jacket. Her hair was in two french braids and Loki couldn’t tell if she had straightened it again or if it was still curly.  They had returned a couple hours later and dragged a couple of rather large deer into the backyard together, along with a few rabbits, so Karai could prepare to freeze the meat to last longer. Loki had gotten up and watched from the back window as she had skillfully carved all the meat for Gabe. Loki couldn’t help but be intrigued. The bond she had with this wolf was beyond incredible. A small smile came across his face as he watched Gabe sit near Karai’s table while wagging his tail, and waiting for Karai to hand him scraps that needed to be disposed of, which the wolf gladly took from her and carried them over to a pile and then came back and sat down. Loki had gone back to the couch and pretended to be asleep when Karai came back into the house with Gabe. She had gone to clean them both up before she could start breakfast.</p><p>Loki strode into the kitchen before Wade and Peter woke up. He had a very good question that he wanted to be able to ask her uninterrupted. When he stood next to the counter, arms crossed, Karai turned to see him.</p><p>“Morning Mischief. Sleep well?”</p><p>“Well I was until I heard someone get into their vehicle and drive away early this morning and then come back hours later.” She grimaced as she remembered that Loki didn’t know about the routine.</p><p>“Sorry about that. I forgot to tell you. Every Sunday I take Gabe hunting. Helps keep his feral side at bay, and he gets his food for the week.”</p><p>“Those 2 deer were for a week?!” She chuckled at his shocked expression.</p><p>“Yeah. I found that out the hard way. Extremely high metabolism plus his size equals a very big eater. Now that I know he may get bigger, I have no clue how I’m going to maneuver all of that food. I don’t even know if he’ll fit in this house. I may have to consider moving to the countryside so he’ll have more room to roam.” A bit of an awkward silence fell and then Loki cleared his throat to speak.</p><p>“So, how did you sleep, Pozharnik?” </p><p>“Fine.” She said it so nonchalantly, but Loki could tell it made her uncomfortable, probably because she was lying.</p><p>“Are you sure?” </p><p>“Of course. I had a dream with a little monkey dancing to Michael Jackson.” She then remembered that Loki probably didn’t know who that was but decided to leave it alone.</p><p>“You do know that it is unwise to lie to the god of lies?” Karai looked at him almost in shock. She had forgotten who he was for just a minute and had slipped up.</p><p>“Karai? When was the last time you had a good night’s rest?” She looked away from him. Loki was talking to her just like <em>he </em>used to. That same concerned and endereing tone that always made her crumble. She sighed. She couldn’t lie to him if she wanted to, so the truth was the only way to go. She took a deep breath before saying…</p><p>“73 years…” She refused to look him in the eye. She could feel his gaze on her. What she couldn’t see is the utterly shocked expression he had. How had she not just passed out from exhaustion after 10 or so days? 73 years?! But then he recalled what he had asked. Sleeping at night is not the same as sleeping during the day, and he had seen her take naps already. This only left one question for him to ask.</p><p>“Why?” This time she did turn and look him in the eye.</p><p>“I like to stay awake at night.”</p><p>Before Loki could’ve asked anymore questions, Wade popped his head into the kitchen.</p><p>“Princess, is that those devil cakes I smell?!” Karai chuckled and was grateful for Wade’s interruption. The tense air dissipated instantly.</p><p>“It sure is love. Go wake up Peter and I’ll set the table.” At that Wade ran back into the living room and all that could be heard was a loud thud before Peter exclaimed in pain.</p><p>“OW! What the hell Wade?! We talked about this! My Spidey senses don’t work in my sleep!” Karai just shook her head at the boys’ antics. She heard Wade mention the pancakes before she heard loud footsteps racing inside the kitchen.</p><p>“Is it true Ms.Karai? Did you prepare the sacred dish?” Karai had laughed the first time he’d called them that.</p><p>“Yes Peter. Both of you get in here and sit.” They quickly sat at the table, including Loki, and dug into the pancakes and groaned at the taste. Wade was full out moaning like in a porno and Peter blushed but continued to eat anyway, choosing to ignore Wade.</p><p>“So, Karai darling. I never got to ask last night. What is tall, green, and stabby doing here.” At Wade’s question Peter looked up. He’d never gotten a full answer and he’d really been curious. Loki looked at Karai, he was slightly tense, not knowing what she might say, but what she said surprised him. She didn’t even look up from her pancakes.</p><p>“He’s here on probation. Odin decided that Loki had spent long enough in his cell and wanted Loki to spend some time around the people he tried to enslave. But they’re keeping this a secret from Thor and the Avengers because Odin knows that they would protest or might treat him as a criminal, instead of someone trying to right their wrongs. I am now his probationary officer til further notice.”</p><p>Karai’s story was so believable that Peter and Wade just nodded and went back to eating, and Loki just had even more questions as he continued to finish his slices of heaven.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Karai, I have to go, this could be a danger to you, the children and grandchildren. I look forward to seeing our future grandchildren. I love little Matthias so much already. I want to see him grow up in a world that I know is safe.”</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“So do I my love, but you can’t just go to this war, we already have 7 sons going willingly. This is not our war, it’s the midgardians.”</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Love, we’ve lived here for centuries. We are midgardians. Muspelheim isn’t going to come back. This is our home and where our generations to come shall be raised.” Tears began to form in Karai’s eyes.</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“I know, which is why I can’t lose you too. You’re all I have left. You saw what happened in the First World War. I won’t let you go. I’ll go if I have to-”</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Absolutely not. I do not doubt you would easily hand them their asses on a silver platter, my darling. But you know they will not allow women to fight in the war. And you are far too precious to me to even risk that. You must stay here. It is my job as your knight to protect you, my princess.” He kissed Karai’s hand just like he did all those years ago when he was knighted and made her personal guard. She smiled sadly at him.</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Yes but who will save you, sir knight, when you can’t even remember where your house keys are right now.” He looked offended.</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“I’ll have you know my house keys are right-...” He went about checking his pockets and beginning to panic. Karai just sniggered as she held up his keys on her finger.</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Looking for these?” He looked up at the keys on her finger and they both burst out in laughter before he pulled her into his arms and into a breathtaking kiss. One relaying all his feelings, just in case. He released her and grabbed his things and headed for the door.</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Bring me back the head of the enemy, my knight.”</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“For you, my princess, I shall slaughter them all and make an offering.” With one last smile, he was gone.</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Karai hurried to the door as she heard the knocking and opened it up.</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Are you Mrs.Karai Warrenson?”</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Yes, can I help you?”</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“Telegram for you mama.” </strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>The messenger handed her the telegram and then was gone in a flash. Karai eyed the tiny yellow paper before closing the door. She hadn’t been expecting this. She had told him not to go, but she still didn’t expect this. </strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>“NO!!!” Karai fell to her knees in tears. Sobs wracked her body as her heart was ripped to shreds before her eyes from the words written on the tiny yellow paper.</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <strong>‘Dear Mrs. Warrenson, we regret to inform you that Julfr Warrenson has been killed in action.’</strong>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I did two chapters again! Also, I just realized that I have been misspelling OCs name this entire time and I feel so embarrassed. Just went through and corrected everything. Her name is Karai, not Kari. Sorry for the mix up.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Is this the real life?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Karai deals with coping and Gabe helps in the only way he knows then Karai takes a job out of the country and it turns into a mini vacation for herself and Loki. Maybe some bonding happens?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Firstly, I'm not sure who read the notes at the bottom of the last chapter but I'm saying it here as well. I just realized that I've been spelling the OC's name wrong. I've gone through every chapter and corrected it.<br/>So this is the first chapter where I mention Karai's PTSD and Anxiety, just not in so many words. Also, I am not a native to the country they visit and I have personally never been there so forgive me if I said something that is incorrect.<br/>I didn't have time to proofread this chapter so sorry for mistakes.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Karai woke up on the couch, her breathing was erratic and she could feel her chest tightening. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Panic Attack</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She couldn’t control her breathing and was practically hyperventilating. All of a sudden Gabe bounded into the living room, sat on her lap, and cuddled her. He sat there trying his best to calm her down the only way he knew. She slowly began to calm down and she was once again so glad she had Gabe. This hadn’t been the first time he’d done this. It was like he could sense that something was wrong whenever she had an attack. She had never trained him to do it, he just did, she never bothered questioning it though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She hadn’t had that dream in years now. Why would it pop up all of a sudden? She had come to terms with everything nearly a century ago. She would never love another the way she loved Julfr and she was content with that. She had her children, grandchildren, and was expecting to have some great grandchildren in the not so distant future. She had Gabe, and Peter and Wade were practically family at this point. Why would that traumatic experience resurface when she was possibly the most happiest she’d been in over 70 years?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While Karai was mulling over everything in her head, she was unaware that Loki had been watching from the shadows for a while now. He had seen her fall asleep on the couch, and when she started tossing and turning in her sleep. When she awakened he instantly knew what was happening. It had happened to him time and time again. Waking up from reliving a traumatic memory and spiraling into a dark abyss. Lucky for her, she had Gabe. Loki always awakened on his own, whether it was in his own chambers, or while he was locked in that cell. After accessing that Karai was indeed fine, he traveled back to his room. He’d save his questions for another time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before either Karai or Loki had realized it, two weeks had gone by. The two had comfortably lived in the house amongst each other and had even fallenl into a steady routine. Karai would make breakfast and Loki would make the coffee. After that, they would go their separate ways until dinner. After dinner, Loki would sometimes stay up all night with Karai, hoping he could figure out why she was staying up, or more importantly, what she was running from in her sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were eating dinner in a comfortable silence when a question suddenly popped into Karai’s head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just realized, you have barely used your seidr since we met at the airport. Why is that, Mischief?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki told her how he simply was hiding and suspected that ways to detect his presence were probably already established, to which Karai nodded and then continued eating, understanding completely. The comfortable silence continued for a moment longer until Loki finally built up the courage to ask one of the many questions that had plagued him since he’d met Karai.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have been wondering for a while and still can’t seem to figure it out yet, but why did I recognize you that day, yet I couldn’t remember where from? Obviously you know me, so why can’t I remember you?” Karai gave him a small smile as she responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I fought with the Avengers during the attack on New York.” Loki just looked even more confused and she further explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t fight like they did of course. The Avengers and Nick Fury understand how I like keeping my true identity hidden, especially with my choice of career. So, while they fought all of the Chitari and you, I was on crowd control. I helped to make sure the Midgardians got to safety. They considered me as their best option for that anyway because of my skill set.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what skill set is that besides combat and the little tricks you can apparently do with your hands?” Karai looked at him and smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That is a story for another time.” Loki just rolled his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After that the two fell into a comfortable silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have a mission coming up. It will take a couple of days, so you have to come along.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And why is that? You leave me here by myself on the mornings that you take Gabriel for his hunting, and when you leave to go shopping. You even seem to trust me enough to not even try taking away my magic, surely this isn’t much different?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It is and isn’t at the same time.” Loki sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, waiting for her to explain and Karai rolled her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Going to the store or even taking Gabe hunting is only a short distance away and is for a couple hours at most, not really enough time to do a lot of damage… You know what I take that back. That’s plenty of time for me, it’d probably be nothing for you as well with your magic and all that shiz. But I’m going out of the country and won’t be able to get back here in time in case something happens, and I’m not only referring to you doing something, I’m also implying in case somebody catches on to the fact you’re here.” Karai smiled at him then.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Besides, I really want you to see the place I’m going. I really think you’ll like it.” Loki sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose I have no choice then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karai and Loki had just gotten through customs at Oslo Gardermoen airport in Norway. Karai was happy the weather was fairly mild this time of year, so she had packed less luggage and Loki was currently using an illusion to disguise himself. She’d said that she wanted him to actually participate in this mission, however, Karai refused to tell him the reason why. He was in a dark green dress shirt and black dress pants, his hair was a sandy reddish-blond and curly, but he still had it slicked back and it came down to the base of his neck. He had facial hair and his normally blue-green eyes were now a vibrant sky blue. He looked like someone she’d seen on T.V. before, but she just couldn’t figure out who.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her attire hadn’t gone unnoticed by Loki either. Since he had dressed up so much, Karai ditched her usual comfortable jeans and t-shirt that she wore for plane rides and decided to match Loki in a way to give off the impression that they were on a business trip. Her 4-inch black heels clacked against the floor of the airport, her bright orange, knee-length dress contrasted beautifully with her caramel skin, making it pop, and she topped it off with a black blazer. Her hair was straightened and done in a neat up do. Loki had seen many strong women in Asgard, his mother being one of the strongest he’d ever met, but there was something Karai at that moment that just exuded power. She didn’t have to try and look intimidating or act like a man, the way she carried herself, the confidence she had alone was enough to no doubt bring the world to its knees, and he’s be damned if it wasn’t attractive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright Mischief, I don’t meet my client until tomorrow, so I figured we could drop this stuff off and then do some exploring. There’s something here that I really wanted to show you anyway.” Loki simply nodded, feigning irritation, but he was actually interested in exploring. He hadn’t seen Norway since he and Thor had come hundreds of years prior. Karai picked up a rental car and then they dropped off their stuff at the hotel and Karai opted to change so she would blend in more. She had told Loki he should probably do the same, but all he did was change his nice dress shoes into some boots with better traction, to which she rolled her eyes. She had taken this job in Oslo in hopes of doing some much needed exploring, to say she was excited was an understatement. They had a whole 28 hours to explore and she planned to use every second of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, I’m going to go on a hunch and say you’ve been here before?” She was trying to keep herself from bouncing in her seat from excitement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your hunch would be correct, though it has been quite some time. 8 or so centuries I believe.” Karai looked at him shocked before turning her attention back to the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, there is so much you have to see then. Last time I came here was only a few decades ago but I’ve missed it. I’m glad I finally got an excuse to come back. Alright since you’ve missed out on so much, the first stop is the Museum and then perhaps the library so we can make sure we have enough time before either of them close.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Oslo Museum had not been that extravagant to Loki, though Karai seemed to really enjoy it. All the tales of the gods were incorrect. How did they manage to mix up his birth parents’ names? And he grumbled when they mentioned him parenting Fenrir and Sleipnir again, though he did wonder why they mentioned him fathering Hel. Sigyn had been nothing more then a childhood friend that grew up to act as if he no longer existed, preferring to spend her time with other nobles of the court. All the lies started to anger him, they were portraying him as if he were nothing more then tricks and lies. Karai had noticed the change in Loki’s mood and decided it was time to go. The next stop was the Oslo Public Library. Karai had wished she had enough time in Scandinavia to go book shop hunting. She’d always loved going searching for old book shops in hopes of finding something rare, but the giant public library would have to do. After staying there for roughly 3 hours, Loki and Karai were sitting in a nice little quiet area they’d found, stacks of books surrounding the two as the tried to speed read as many as possible to outdo the other and swap information later. They had made this deal when they first arrived and found a large number of books that either of them had yet to read. Karai had said they had 4 hours before they had to leave to move on to their final destination, to which Loki proposed a challenge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We both read as many books as possible before time is up. Whoever has read the most in the end wins. And we can discuss them all later, that way we get twice as many read at once.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh it is on, Mischief. Loser makes winner breakfast for a week. And no cheating! As in, no distractions or magical help or anything. This is to benefit us both.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Very well, deal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The 4</span>
  <span>th</span>
  <span> hour finally hit and Karai’s phone alarm went off. And she closed her book.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Time’s up. How many?” Loki closed his book and looked at his stack of finished books and held smug expression.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“15. And You?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Umm, 19 and a half?” She said while looking at her stack again before nodding. Loki grumbled, not happy about being beaten.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If I could use my seidr I would have easily out done that.”</span>
</p><p> <span>“But if you had, that would have been cheating, and you would have risked possibly giving away that you’re here. So stop being a sore loser and let’s go.” Loki just continued to pout as they left and Karai had to hold back her laughter. Who knew he was such a sore loser?</span></p><p>
  <span>Their final stop took them out of the city. The sun had started setting while they were in the library which was exactly what Karai had hoped for.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are we going?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please hold all questions until the end of the tour. Just sit back and relax, Mischief. Take a nap or whatever now cause you won’t be allowed to sleep tonight.” Loki raised an eyebrow and smirked and Karai realized what she had said and quickly tried to clean it up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I mean… not like that! I mean we’ll just be having too much fun… Innocent fun!” She blushed and she was thankful her it couldn’t show it that well, but Loki knew and couldn’t help teasing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hardly think either of us is </span>
  <em>
    <span>innocent, </span>
  </em>
  <span>dear Karai. Nothing wrong with two adults having </span>
  <em>
    <span>fun</span>
  </em>
  <span> together, is there?” Karai, not knowing how to respond, her blush just deepened, and she wouldn’t doubt by now that Loki had noticed. He looked amused. She cleared her throat to dispense the awkward air and decided to stick to focusing on the road. A few quiet minutes passed before Loki spoke up again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think I will take you up on that nap, wouldn’t want to be tired tonight, would we?” Karai heard his teasing tone but chose to ignore it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, I’ll wake you when we get there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The drive only took about 4 hours and the stars were out when Karai pulled into a small area to park the car. She was surprised that Loki had slept the entire ride. She was going to gently wake him up, when a wicked idea popped in her head. He seemed to be out cold, so she carefully got out of the car and took the keys with her. She backed far enough away so he wouldn’t see her right away… and she pressed the alarm button on the car remote. Karai laughed hysterically as Loki woke up panicked and ready to attack. She quickly turned off the alarm before he could do anything and before she got the attention of any locals. She walked up to the car and opened the backseat door to get out the blankets she’d put in earlier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Morning sunshine, sleep well?” Karai smiled innocently but Loki glared at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You truly do have a death wish it would seem.” He snarled out and Karai chuckled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow, haven’t heard a death threat in a while, looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Come on, we’re here, and the show’s about to start.” Loki grumpily got out of the car and followed Karai, only for his eyes to widen as he looked out at the glistening Fjord and the endless sky of stars above them. Karai had brought him out to the Aurlandsfjord, possibly her favorite place in Norway. She laid out the blankets and laid back on them, patting the spot next to her encouraging Loki to relax. He opted for just sitting on the blankets instead, the two sat there in silence just looking at the stars.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you see anything besides Midgard’s solar system from here?” Karai finally broke the silence and Loki looked at her and then back up at the stars, giving her question thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes. See? Right there is Jotunheim. A lot closer to Midgard then the rest of the Nine, but still extremely far. Of course, they would probably still try and come here if their technology with air and spacecraft were more updated. Their technology for intergalactic travel is actually behind Midgard, which is quite behind.” Karai jabbed him in the side while looking at where he had pointed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, I get it. Midgard’s still got some catching up to do.” Silence fell and then a streak swept across the sky. Karai squealed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Quick Mischief, lay down!” He raised an eyebrow at her, and she rolled her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The show is about to start and you want the best view, don’t you?” Loki hesitantly laid down on the blankets, careful to make sure enough space was between them. Soon more streaks of light swept past the sky until it looked as if tit were raining stars. Meteor shower. Karai had managed to time this job perfectly to catch the years meteor shower. Loki looked awe struck as he watched the sweeping streams of light. Minutes went by until finally the last star disappeared and left the sky clear again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Soooo, what’d ya think?” Karai’s happy tone made Loki chuckle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to say, it was beautiful. I haven’t seen a meteor shower since I was a boy. All of this actually gives an odd feeling of nostalgia. So much reminds me Asgard, even that blasted stupid museum.” Karai laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll have to take you to the Epcot Center at Disney world one day. They just recently added a whole new exhibit dedicated to you Asgardians. They even talked to Jane Foster to make sure they got certain details correct. I’m really glad you enjoyed this though, I had actually planned this whole day based on you. I know how it is to miss your home and can’t get back. So, I wanted to give you a little piece of home.” Karai gave him a smile before looking up at the stars again and Loki just stared at her shocked before doing the same. She swore she heard him mumble a small ‘thank you’, and it quickened her heat beat just a little.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, Mischief, we’ve got 6 hours til sunrise. So, what did you find in the library?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, Mischief, what’s taking so long?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look woman, do not rush me! I’m fighting bloody Kree and I can’t use my fucking magic, I know I make it look easy, but it’s not a walk in the garden!” Loki grunted through the earpiece Karai had made him wear so they could stay in touch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karai and Loki were supposed to be infiltrating this warehouse, taking everyone inside of it out, and retrieving a stolen family heirloom for her client. The only problem was that everyone inside of the warehouse were Kree in disguise, and not the good ones. Karai had been taking them out left and right, infiltrating the place with ease. Loki was still a master at stealth as well as his agility and speed were top notch, but he had been ambushed somehow and couldn’t use anymore seidr then what was being used to keep his illusion of his disguise up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve got to be kidding me? Have you really become that dependent on your magic? For shame Loki. Don’t worry, I’ve got the goods and I’m on my way.” Karai chuckled as she went to save Loki’s ass. Who knew he was so helpless without his magic? Maybe he had just gotten lazy over the years. Karai rounded the corner, her rifle aimed and ready, and found Loki surrounded by fallen Kree. She dropped her gun down. He was standing there panting, his Englishman disguise had fallen. She guessed he decided to just forget it for now since he was killing them all anyway. He was wearing what appeared to be a less flashy form of his armor. Instead of the green and gold accents, it was just all black leathers that all seemed the fit him just right. Karai shook the thought from her head and started walking past Loki and heading towards the exit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Glad to see you handled it on your own.” Loki rolled his eyes at her comment and followed behind her. He tried not to stare as her hips unconsciously swayed as she made her way down the many halls. She was wearing black cargo pants, combat boots, a long sleeve black compression shirt, and a bullet proof vest, just in case.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve fought wars before you were born, mortal, I can handle myself temporarily without my magic.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I doubt that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You doubt that I can handle my own?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, yes. But I was referring to your wars comment. I doubt you fought any before I was born, judging by how old you look.” She carefully turned a corner, aiming her gun to make sure it was clear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m well aware I look to be as youthful as perhaps a Midgardian man in his early 30s, but I assure you, I’m over 1,050.” He looked smug but Karai looked unphased as she stopped and turned around to look at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s it? Wow Mischief, you’re a baby.” Loki look appalled by the words and he glared at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mind your words, mortal. Whatever meager abilities you possess, they are still no match for me.” Karai narrowed her eyes at him and her gaze turned cold, a look Loki had yet seen Karai make and he’d be lying if he said it didn’t catch him off guard and second guess his words for a millisecond.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wanna know the fucking truth? I keep telling your ass I’m not mortal. I may look like some mortal woman in her late 30s, but I’ve been on this planet for the past 800 years. I’m 1,322! Wars? I’ve seen more than you think. I was holding a sword even before your ass was born and slaying my enemies while you were learning to crawl. So, I dare you, call me mortal one more time, I’d love to get a chance to really fight for the first time in centuries.” Loki was slightly taken aback as he saw her eyes turn to flames and her gun began to melt in her hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“…What in the Nine are you?” He hadn’t asked out of fear or disgust. There was genuine curiosity in his eyes. That snapped Karai out her moment, her eyes turning back to normal as she looked at her rifle and huffed in annoyance before dropping it and turning away, taking out her handgun, and proceeding towards the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m the creature that keeps people up at night.” She mumbled it low enough that Loki almost missed it, almost.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm loving all of your comments! Thank you and please leave more, I love hearing from you all! &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Is it just fantasy?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Karai is still in post-battle mode and is very easy to trigger, so Loki takes the opportunity and pushes Karai just a little too far. Needless to say, some small amounts of violence occur. Back Story Time!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>More PTSD, panic attacks, and badass OC. Not proofread, sorry in advance.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The mission had been a success, a lovely $2 million was wired to Karai, which she would later split off again amongst her children once again. They never needed it, but she had nothing to do with it either. Most of the time they all just put it into different charities as anonymous donations.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karai and Loki were sitting in the hotel room. Karai sitting on the bed on her laptop, Loki in a chair. It was like a major Déjà vu moment. Only difference was that Loki was staring at her this time instead of a book. She was just sitting in old sweatpants and a tank top, her hair washed and sitting in a mess of unruly curls on her head. She looked completely comfortable while she could literally hear all of the gears in Loki’s head turning by the minute. After feeling like Loki was going to hurt himself if he kept staring so hard, Karai finally decided to break the silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, you keep staring like that, you’re going to hurt yourself?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you care about this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t, just stating a fact. I can feel you staring at me, like you’re trying to stare at my soul. Little creepy.” Karai never took her eyes off of her laptop screen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want me to stop?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That would be nice, yes.” Then Loki smirked, the devious glint in his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what will you do if I don’t, mortal?” He was careful to articulate every syllable of the word, purposely trying to get Karai riled up and she knew it. Her hands had frozen for a brief moment on her keyboard, then continued. Since she didn’t respond, Loki continued his little game.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to say, I am quite curious about that little stunt you pulled earlier. I’m sure it was probably nothing more than a trick, but I still found it fascinating. Could you do it again?” Karai gritted her teeth. She couldn’t understand why he was getting to her so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“..No..”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aww, such a shame. I guess you must be, what do you Midgardians call it? A one trick pony?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“…Shuddup..” She gritted out through clenched teeth, Loki’s smirk never faltering. Manipulation was one of his specialties.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why? Are my words bothering you because they’re true? If I’m wrong, please feel free to correct me. To be honest, I just want to see this battle you promised earlier if I called you ‘mortal’ again. I have yet to see you do anything. I’m starting to believe you are nothing more than words.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“…Says the man who got his ass handed to him by Hulk, who is in fact a mortal man first and foremost.” Loki’s smirk fell and he narrowed his eyes at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You said before that you were the thing that keeps people up at night, since you think to be so bold, why not show me how much of a monster you are?” That was the final straw. Karai finally looked up at him, her stare felt colder than Jotunheim. He could feel her anger and he admitted only to himself that he was second guessing provoking her, especially after how nice she’d been to him all this time, this was a completely person. He heard the sound of her clicking one last button on her keyboard, before all of the lights in a 5-mile radius went out. The room was bathed in complete darkness and Loki didn’t have time to react before he was on the ground, hands and feet bound in something scorching hot. Something with fire like eyes held a hot dagger against his throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wanna fucking know? You’re so damn curious that you have to provoke people into doing something when </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> want them to? Is that it Laufeyson? Think everyone is supposed to bow down to you, you little Jotun runt? Odin fucking destroyed my realm and you were coming down to Midgard to spread stories of Asgard so you could be praised. My husband and I were forced to escape and take refuge here when we were just kids. I watched my mother and father die at the hands of the Jotuns and the elves. Odin was our only fucking ally because he told the rest of the realms to stay away from us. He stole the very thing keeping my home planet alive and then I watched as he slew my father. He even took the king's crown.” Karai got off of Loki and he felt the burning bonds on his hands and feet fall away. He was sweating and flushed from all the heat and he was sure he’d have burns this time around. He watched her eyes as she paced back and forth in the dark, only her eyes were visible to him. He could have made the lights all come back on, but it would ruin the ominous mood. So, he sat quietly as she continued her story.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“After learning about you, I wondered had he seen me, would he have killed me or kept me like another ancient relic like he did with you. I ended up having to live here in hiding and constantly trying to protect my children. Despite everything, I had not once held what Odin did to my realm, to my parents, against you or Thor. I didn’t constantly hold animosity against anyone when I was treated like dirt and castrated. But you? You want to constantly dwell on the fact that you were lied to by your damn adopted dad and mom. Oh boo hoo, they didn’t tell you that you were different so you went on a rampage. Sounds like a fucking spoiled brat if you ask me, and they still didn’t even kill you after it all. You practically had a 5 star hotel room as your prison cell. You think I got remorse for that shit? You think you had a hard life? I heard you thought Jotuns were barbaric monsters. Honey, you want something that’ll make you feel better, guess what? They lied about Jotuns being monsters. The real monsters were the Muspels, that's why Odin destroyed them. And you’re gonna get a kick out of this?” She lit a small flame in her palm and held it close to her face. Loki watched as the light illuminated her face and he was shocked. Her face was that of lava and rock, her eyes were literal flames in her eye sockets, her hair now made of flames on her head, yet it still made the shape of curls, and to top it off, she wore a dark sinister smile. She kept this hidden for a reason. Over the years her appearance had made people’s blood run cold and they’d run away screaming. That’s why she worked so hard to protect her children, cause they were all full blood Muspels and royalty. They were of the strongest lineage and the people of Midgard feared them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My name is Karai Surtrsdottir,” She brought the flame down to her chest and pulled the top of her tank top down enough to reveal how her skin merged into rock right over her heart. The rock had something etched into it the glowed bright with the flames of her beating heart. It was a family crest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“and I’m the princess and only living survivor of Muspellheim .” Suddenly her flames all went out and it was completely dark in the room again, but a second later, the lights came back on to reveal Karai right back on her bed on her laptop, as if nothing ever happened. Then, she stood up and grabbed her jacket and keys and left out of the room, muttering an ‘I’ll be back soon’ before the door closed. Loki just sat there shocked over everything that had happened. He couldn’t help the unyielding guilt that he felt. And it was all because she had hurt his pride by saying he was relying too much on his magic, which she was right about. Ever since he first started practicing magic, he began relying on it. His mother had even told him to not rely so much on it, but he didn’t listen. He got off the floor finally and sat back in his chair. He worked on healing his wrists but only so much could be done. The fire she possessed was an ancient magic that even he couldn’t heal himself all the way from. He was going to have to let the heal, slowly. At least he had time to think about how to apologize to his only real friend that he’s ever had. He waited for her. Hours went by as the night drew on, but she never came back. She didn’t return again until the next morning to get her stuff all packed. She didn’t say one word to Loki until she noticed that he was just sitting there and she rolled her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Our flight leaves in 2 hours unless you want to be stuck here.” He got up and packed all of his stuff and soon they sat at the airport. She hadn’t spoken to him again. He’d tried to talk to her, but every time he did, she would find an excuse to avoid him. They didn’t speak on the plane or when they got back to Karai’s house. And that was how it stayed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The night Loki had finally gotten on Karai’s last nerve, she lashed out. She didn’t know how, but she had held back significantly. For some reason she couldn’t bring herself to hurt him anymore than burning his wrists and ankles a little. She also knew that he’d held back from even doing anything. It was probably because he was finally getting the information he wanted. Part of her considered that it was all apart of some plot he had, but she dismissed it. If he was secretly planning to take over the world or start a war again, she’d kill him this time around and make sure he was dead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After telling him everything, she’d decided to leave and go for a walk. She needed air and some time alone. It had only been a couple days since her nightmare about Julfr, now she had to relive this whole experience again, to say her emotions were overwhelmed was an understatement. Karai hadn’t realized her breathing had grown erratic. Images of everything were flying through her head and she wasn’t even paying attention to where she was going until she came to a dead end. She didn’t even bother to try and find her way back, she was too far gone in her head right now. She curled up in the corner of the alley, trying to calm down. Maybe this trip hadn’t been such a great idea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karai had finally managed to work through her panic attack and went back to the hotel to collect Loki and leave. She had nothing to say. Not only because she was still angry, but because she was still lost in her own head and felt like she was still falling. Karai hadn’t even said more than ‘thank you’ to Peter for watching Gabe when they returned home and she missed him giving her a worried look.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Does anyone know how to write a summary and description for a photo that you're looking to sell? Please let me know!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Despite trying to avoid it and pride and stubbornness keeping them apart, a little entity known as Gabe forces Karai and Loki to make amends.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is just fluff. That's all it is, I was in a fluffy mood.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After Karai’s revelation, she stayed very quiet, which was extremely odd for Loki. They still followed their daily routine, except Karai never stayed up with him anymore, she would just go and lock herself inside her room. Loki had really gotten used to her carefree attitude and unlimited amount of optimism.Though he would act annoyed and uninterested, her mischievous tendencies actually made him proud at times. He’d tried to talk to her multiple times but she was finding ways to avoid it, she even went as far as to walk out of the room one time. That’s when Loki had decided to give up and let her have some space, she’d have to come around eventually, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything she’d said that day was true and he couldn’t deny it. Through all of it, he had felt the venom in her words, but he could also feel how much it truly pained her to say any of it. He’d brought out a side of Karai that she’d desperately tried to keep hidden. She didn’t like letting her anger take control, it made her become what people expected her to be, and that was not her. Loki knew that she had obviously been holding back. She’d put up more of a fight the day they first met in that airport, and even then he was sure that she was just having fun. The amount of restraint she had on her emotions was incredible, but was it bad that he actually felt excited watching her lose some control? She was always so happy-go-lucky, even while putting a bullet in someone’s skull. It made him wonder if some of her happiness was actually fake, or if she was truly just content with her life. Whatever she was, Loki couldn’t help feeling guilty for causing her to have to re-live such traumatic experiences. Could it be that he actually missed Karai? Loki shook his head at the thought. He just wasn’t used to so much silence anymore and her company was actually tolerable and the only way to get back to how things were was to apologize. Yet, days went by and he couldn’t seem to even say the word ‘sorry’. Despite her ignoring him, he had been trying to still apologize, but everytime he was about to say it, the words would not come out. He wasn’t sure if it was his pride or if he was afraid of her rejection. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After almost two weeks of Karai’s silence, Loki had decided he’d had enough. He was planning to confront her the next morning. But he didn’t even get to wait until morning because he was awakened in the middle of the night by a blood curdling scream. He shot up out of his head and headed towards Karai’s room but froze when he heard a very loud thud. He summoned a dagger just in case and proceeded to her room. When he got there he saw the door was knocked down and Gabe was now wrapped in Karai’s arms as she cried. He vanished his dagger and cleared his throat and Karai quickly looked up at him and wiped her face with her hand. He had never seen her cry before, but something inside of him hated it. For some reason he wanted to find some way to comfort her, but all he did was stand by the doorway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I heard the door fall and I wanted to make sure everything was alright.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, everything’s fine. I accidentally locked Gabe out and he got impatient and knocked down the door. You can go back to sleep. Sorry if he woke you.” Neither of them were addressing her screaming and it was best that way. Loki nodded and turned to leave but stopped. He took a deep breath and forced his pride or whatever down and turned back around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I also wanted to apologize for everything I said and making you have to relive those memories. No one should have to endure what you have and what I said was completely uncalled for.” Karai gave him a sad smile and then gestured to her bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you like to come in?” He nodded and then stepped over the door to sit down on the edge of her bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry too. I know you dealt with a lot and situations affect everyone in a different way. What I’ve gone through is no more traumatic than what you’ve endured and I had no right to compare.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On the contrary, I think you had every right to. I let my pride and sense of entitlement blind me too often. My mother used to have to be the one to bring me back down and humble me. But I stopped listening to her and I think I’ve been in need of someone to put me in check. It was a bit eye opening.” Karai smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well someone has got to keep that ego of yours in check.” Loki smiled a little at that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose someone does.” Karai sighed in fake exasperation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, I’ll take the job. I’m obviously the best person qualified.” Karai was surprised when she actually heard Loki laugh. It was no more than a small chuckle, she could hear how genuine it was. Karai reached out her hand towards him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you say Mischief, roommates again?” Loki shook her hand, a smile on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was actually surprised you didn’t tell me to leave or turn me over to the Avengers.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! I’m not that petty!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no you are not. I’m really starting to see how genuinely compassionate you are…And since we are being so honest, there is perhaps something I should tell you.” His expression dropped a little and he took a deep breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“New York wasn’t your fault?” She had said it before Loki could even get the words out and he looked at her astounded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, Thor kind of told the story of what you did to the Jotuns and the Bifrost Bridge and all that. I admit, your actions were a bit irrational, but they were out of hurt which makes it a little understandable. However, New York was completely out of character. Sure, Thor seems like he only sees the good in you, but I’m also basing this off of your character now. That wasn’t you. So, who was it?” Loki looked down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanos…” Karai stayed silent for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...where is he now?” Karai had heard tales of the Mad Titan once or twice. It was enough to know that he didn’t give up easily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dead. And his armies have been destroyed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you’re sure of this?” Loki nodded</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Positive.” Karai’s serious expression then completely disappeared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well then, I’m sure once we explain everything, people will slowly begin to understand and you will be forgiven. When it’s time, I’ll be there to back you up. The Avengers consider me like a mother Hen. They know I would never steer them wrong, nor do they like to upset me...like you.” Loki rolled his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Gabe finally decided to make his presence known again by licking Loki’s face and he spluttered trying to get the wolf off of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s right, Mischief, that’s a load of crap. After all, you’re talking to a mom. You can’t lie to me. I’ve seen you looking all guilty and lost these past couple of weeks.” As much as it annoyed him, Loki nodded a little in agreement. His mother had always been able to detect his lies, even when he was lying to himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You mentioned something like that before. You have children?” Karai’s smile widened at the thought of her babies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, 18. 12 boys and 6 girls.” Karai looked up and sniggered as she saw Loki’s jaw on the ground as he stared at her in awe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“18! Norns woman, how?!” Karai simply shrugged</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really sure. All of them came out very healthy and I never had any complications, which was amazing considering they were all at most 2 years apart.” Loki’s face just looked shocked and Karai couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up inside of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the sound of her laughter, Loki realized how much he had missed it. He couldn’t help laughing himself. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he felt this carefree. They spent the next couple of hours sitting on Karai’s bed as she told stories of raising 18 children. She was so happy telling stories that she hadn’t realized she had no problem mentioning Julfr in the stories. She then talked about how hard it was having to help plan so many different weddings, especially her daughters’. She talked about her grandchildren, of which she had 35 and counting. She had even pulled out some pictures from family reunions. Loki laughed when she told the stories of her and Julfr running around with buckets of water to put out random fires their children had started. They stayed talking in her room for so long, that time had gotten away from them and soon the sun greeted them. Karai finally decided to kick Loki out so she could get dressed and they both met up in the kitchen for breakfast. Gabe was happily bouncing around, clearly glad everything was back to normal. He really would have to find a way to thank the wolf later for having the courage to do something that he didn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was the last Saturday of the month again which meant movie night had arrived already.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Mischief, would you like to go hunting with me and Gabe tomorrow morning? Get some fresh air and get out of this house for the first time in over a month and not because you have to?” Loki’s eyes lit up at the thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I’d like that. I agree, despite how comfortable it has been here, and visiting Norway was very nice, but I’d enjoy going on a simple hunt and it is nice having a choice.” Karai chuckled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gotta keep my prisoner happy, don’t I? Everyone one knows giving a prisoner a little leash on rare occasions keeps them more compliant. Wouldn’t want you trying to run off.” She teased but Loki just looked at her amused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You keep making these pancakes and I won’t ever leave.” He had mumbled it low but it was still loud enough for Karai to hear and she laughed as he stuffed more into his mouth and hummed in delight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had never seen him act so open and carefree. It was nice getting to truly meet the man behind the always calculating stare. He had begun telling stories of other Asgardian legends they’d read at the museum that made absolutely no sense and how the Midgardians got those stories of him birthing an eight-legged horse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! You’re joking!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m telling you, Thor started those rumors. He had decided that he wanted to be worshiped as a god properly, so we came down to earth, he showed the Midgardians his prowess and they accepted him as their god. He then proceeded to get drunk and make up those insane stories of me.” Karai was nearly in tears laughing</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And here I thought that you were the god of mischief.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh believe me, I am. Odin nearly had me spend a week in the dungeon once for pulling a trick on him, mother managed to talk him down to one night as a form of ‘time out’. Mischief entails that I pull tricks and illusions that are actually successful and well thought out. Thor’s just a blundering oaf that likes to go around swinging his hammer at everything.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, you pulled a prank on ODIN?!” Loki nodded while taking a sip of his coffee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was still a boy at the time. He’d recently publicly reprimanded me for using my tricks on the palace staff, so I decided to pay him back. I tried to turn his clothing pink while he was in front of his court, but my magic was still slightly unstable and instead it turned him and his guards green...for two days. He was furious.” Loki laughed at the memory at the memory and Karai was holding her sides at this point from laughing so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Movie night went on without an incident. Ned had decided to come again and Karai made Wade pinky swear that he wouldn’t do anything that could possibly scar the boys. It had been Karai’s turn to pick the movie and she took the opportunity to show them Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta. Peter, Ned, and Wade hooped and hollered as Karai danced along to the movie from the sidelines. The next morning at 4am, Karai, Gabe, and Loki all loaded inside her truck and headed out to the hunting preserve where she usually took Gabe. When they got there, Karai and Loki got out first. As soon as she opened Gabe’s door, he bounded out of the truck, happy to have more room to run. Karai laughed and grabbed her ropes from the back end and she and Loki began to trudge through the forest to follow Gabe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Does he usually just take off like that?” Loki said with a slight laugh. He had to admit, it was extremely refreshing getting out of the house. And the smile on her face was infectious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d noticed how on her hunting days she sported different attire than usual. Most of the time he only saw her in t-shirts of various types and sizes, and jogging pants, pajama bottoms, or jeans on days when she had to go to the grocery store. Hunting days however, were different. She seemed to always wear a pair of tactical cargo pants (today's pair had the words ‘U.S. Navy Seal’ on one of the pockets), a simple black tank top, and camouflage jacket that looked like it was two sizes too big. Her hair that was nearly black in color was shorter today, due to the fact that she’d left it curly, and with the early morning sun shining, Karai looked as if her caramel skin was glowing. Loki had to shake his head to recollect his thoughts as he finally realized Karai was speaking to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes he does. I swear every time he comes out here, he acts like he hasn’t been here in forever. I’ve actually been looking for another house lately. Thinking of getting out of the city and finding a nice house out closer to here, that way Gabe can do all the running he wants. And I’d still keep my home in the city. I’d probably just drive up there once a month for movie night. You’re welcome to move with me or stay in the city house. It’s your choice.” Loki was a little shocked at that last part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’d let me stay there on my own?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You aren’t secretly planning to take over Midgard again, are you?” It was only a joke and Loki rolled his eyes. Karai had actually been thinking about this for a while now. She could easily keep tabs on everything that goes on in her city home between all of the cameras she has set and have Wade pop in now and then, but her opinion of Loki had slowly been changing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Surprisingly, I actually find you a bit trustworthy, Mischief. Believe it or not, it’s very hard to earn my trust, but you earned it very fast. I’d actually trust you with Gabe. And I don’t even trust Wade with Gabe, mainly because I feel he would feed him a bunch of junk food.” Loki couldn’t help the warm smile that spread across his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you.” Karai looked up at him and could genuinely see the appreciation and gratitude in his eyes as she smiled back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re welcome.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The hunting trip turned out to be quite fun. Loki had helped Karai tie up the deer that Gabe caught and carried them back to the vehicle for her. He knew she was plenty capable of carrying them herself, but he honestly just wanted to help and she was happy to oblige. After Gabe finished his hunting, Loki did something unexpected. He shapeshifted into a wolf. He was roughly a foot shorter than Gabe on all fours, but still a rather large size. His fur was black and sleek, a contrast to Gabe’s dark gray and white, and he seemed to exude power. Gabe bounced up and down at this, seeming to know what this meant. Soon the two wolves were running around the forest chasing, pouncing, and fighting each other like two big puppies. Karai couldn’t help but giggle at the adorableness of it all. It was so cute!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They soon packed up, Loki turned back to his Aesir form, and headed back to the city.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I still can’t believe you’re over 1,300.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, I don’t look it, do I?” Karai faked fixing her hair and Loki chuckled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, not at all. Despite not being able to detect a lie about your age, I didn’t want to believe it. I thought you were perhaps younger than me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aye, black don’t crack unless you spoke it.” Loki looked at her confused and Karai had forgotten that was a slang term in Midgard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhh, in Midgard, people with melanin such as mine are referred to as black, even though we are more of a variety of brown shades. Black people are known for having naturally youthful skin for a long time as long as they do not do anything to change their chemical compositions. Crack is a Midgardian street drug that is used for its ability to dull the senses more so than alcohol. It’s highly addictive and can have many side effects, one of the least harmful being your skin wrinkling faster. And finally, a slang term for wrinkling is also crack. Black don’t crack unless you smoke it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The fact it took you that long to explain a sentence with 6 words in it, just proves how complicated Midgardians are with their languages.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re such a baby, Mischief.” she said teasingly. She wanted to see his reaction, and it was definitely working, because he was currently scowling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am not, and I caution you to never refer to me as that again. I am only a mere 269 years younger than you. That’s barely anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually, I was referring to your maturity, but that's a decent sized age gap, nearly 3 centuries! Sorry, but I am the superior here and now I hereby dub this extremely important.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It is not!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hush child! The adult is driving.” Loki’s annoyance grew and he didn’t even hesitate when they pulled up to the house and got out of the vehicle, Loki stalked over to Karai while she wasn’t paying attention and caged her against the side of the vehicle, placing both his hands on either side of her head, blocking her escape. He leaned in until Karai could feel his breath on her ear. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is your last warning, little girl. If you call me a child again, I’ll take it upon myself to show you how wrong you truly are.” Karai could hear the smirk on his face and when he pulled away, it only confirmed it. Loki started unloading things and Karai stood there for a second gathering herself together. Her heart was pounding with… excitement? Weird. A bark from Gabe for her to let him out brought her out of her daze. She let him out and then went to help Loki unload, only for him to smirk and a warm tingly feeling spread through her as he passed her and went inside the house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell just happened?” she mumbled to herself before helping unload.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki’s mind was reeling. He wasn’t exactly sure why he felt like he had to prove that he wasn’t a child to her. Perhaps it had just been his pride again? He certainly didn’t feel a need to impress Karai…right? Of course not. But he couldn’t deny how wonderful it felt for those few seconds to be pressed against her like that, the scent of her shampoo invading his senses. Her very being was sparking something inside of him. Bringing back to life a part of himself that he’d thought was long dead. His heart was racing, and he felt his adrenaline pumping. There were butterflies going crazy in his stomach, but he enjoyed it. Whatever this creature had done to him, he didn’t want to let this feeling go. It both scared and excited him, but all of the best things did.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I've used the same song for the titles of the last 3 chapters and I promise it's gonna be a different song next chapter, but I couldn't help myself. I love Queen.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Gonna get caught</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What do you get when you lock a god of mischief and the daughter of Surtr in a house together? A whole lot of pranks. Karai and Loki are getting more and more comfortable around each other and Loki decides, for no apparent reason, to surprise Karai. More fluffy moments with Loki and Karai or<br/>the calm before the storm.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A month had pleasantly passed by. Loki and Karai had been living comfortably together, growing closer and closer each day. Every prank, every mission, every meal together, it all now just brought them closer. To say Karai wasn’t slightly afraid would be a lie. The pranks they pulled on each other were so childish and yet hilarious. Loki loved the fact that Karai enjoyed his tricks and even did her own. Since he was trying to live with very little amounts of magic, she’d told him to start wearing less complicated clothing, as his was impossible for her to wash. She’d finally convinced him to do so by turning every green article red. He’d been mad but she promised to buy him green if he let her take him shopping. Loki’s plan to get her back was far more childish, however.</p><p>Karai kept a jar of candies in her kitchen for whenever she had a sweet tooth and she could not survive without her candy. So, Loki had replaced all of her candy with just the wrappers. He held back his laughter as he watched her frantically go through every wrapper, growing more disappointed with every empty one she opened. She was fuming, literally, her hair was on fire. She’d chased Loki through the house while yelling </p><p>“YOU BASTARD! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY MEDICINE?!” as she often called her candy her medicine, saying that the sugar ‘balanced her moods’. Loki didn’t stop laughing until he realized he was falling, having been tripped by Gabe. He quickly caught his footing and glared at the traitor but was soon tackled to the ground by Karai. She looked as if she was going to rip his head off and he couldn’t help laughing.</p><p>“I let you stay in my home and this is how you repay me?! Where’s my candy you ungrateful snake?!” Loki cleared his throat.</p><p>“I do not regret to inform you that it is gone-” Karai growled and Loki held up his hand in surrender.</p><p>“But I have a way of making it up to you.” And in the blink of an eye, they were teleported into a wooded area. Karai extinguished herself and got off Loki, both of them getting up. </p><p>“Mischief, where the fuck are we? And I thought you didn’t want to use your magic?”</p><p>“Yes, but if I don’t use some of it occasionally then it begins to bottle up and I could lose control. Besides, it was worth it so I could bring you here.” He led the way out of the wooded area and Karai’s face lit up in surprise.</p><p>“Hersey park!” Hersey park, Pennsylvania. He’d brought her all the way to a candy themed amusement park.</p><p>“The Parker boy told me of this place, and I needed an excuse to use a larger amount of seidr at once, so I ate your candy.” Loki held a smug smile and Karai looked over at him amazed.</p><p>“You did all that so you could surprise me, Mischief?” Loki scoffed.</p><p>“Of course not! I just told you that I needed an excuse to use my seidr.”</p><p>“Well why not just disappear on your own and pop back up later?”</p><p>“Well that wouldn’t exactly keep your trust in me stabilized, and it uses more seidr with two people.” Karai just shook her head with amusement before grabbing his arm and pulling him into the park, thankful that she already had her wallet and phone with her. </p><p>Karai had enjoyed every second of their little outing. She had to pull Loki onto majority of the rides and pulled him around the whole park for that matter. He acted as if he’d have rather been somewhere else, but Karai could tell he was enjoying himself. She just thought he was having fun, but Loki knew the real reason. Every smile, every giggle, every scream on a ride that she made, it all made his heart skip a beat. He had to fight the smiles that tried to creep onto his face. Her joy was radiant, and it nearly took his breath away. He wasn’t sure how or why, but he knew he had to see her like this more often. Whatever he had to do to make her smile, he’d do it. Of course, he couldn’t let her know that. Which is why after a hidden camera on a rollercoaster caught him staring happily at an excitedly screaming Karai, he quickly used his seidr to change it before she could notice it. </p><p>Karai had been a happy, bubbly mess all day. She felt like a kid again and it was all because of the brooding god that kept staring at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. She really couldn’t believe he’d brought her here. For a moment she wondered if he was trying to take her out on a date of sorts without saying so, but she quickly shook the thought. Knowing Loki, a date with him would probably include watching the sunset on another realm. She had a feeling that he was a romantic on the inside and his attitude indicated that he did things above and beyond. No, this trip was a simple outing between friends. At least, that’s what she tried to tell herself. And she had to play it off like she didn’t see the roller coaster picture that he changed. She’d been glad that he didn’t have to hide his appearance all day. With his Midgardian urban clothing and having his hair hanging loose more often now, he easily passed for a regular person. Especially since she’d gotten him to try some colors other than green and black. She’d had to stop herself from staring a few times if she was being honest. He looked so relaxed. They ended their day with a trip to Hershey Chocolate World where Karai and Loki spent over an hour tasting different treats. As they left, her and Loki’s arms were full of enough candy to last any normal person years, but as Karai carried her giant Hershey’s bar and giant KitKat, she knew this supply would only probably last a few months at most.</p><p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Another month goes by and things between Karai and Loki have changed in a way she can’t explain. It all started the first night Karai heard Loki screaming in his sleep. She had burst into his room, hands ablaze, ready to kill anyone who dared break into her home besides Deadpool. What surprised her was that all she found was Loki sitting up in his bed, a light sheen of sweat on his brow, and his breathing coming out rapidly.</p><p>“Gabe!” Before Karai could call him, the wolf was bounding towards Loki’s bed and climbing on him. Only instead of just comforting Loki like he did with Karai, the wolf went about licking his face, making Loki splutter and flail, trying to get the large behemoth of a wolf off of him. Karai raised an eyebrow, puzzled.</p><p>‘I guess he wasn’t having an anxiety attack?’ she thought as Loki finally managed to get Gabe off of him.</p><p>“Sorry about that. I don’t know why he started licking you.”</p><p>“It’s because he knew my form of distress needed it...” Loki spoke lowly and Karai crossed her arms.</p><p>“What are you takin’ about, Mischief? And are you alright? You look kinda...terrible.” Karai grimaced a little. She expected some sassy remark, or at least a glare, but she got neither.</p><p>“Your words speak the truth. I feel terrible. I think Gabriel knew I was in a state that, if left there, was a danger to you both. And <em>cuddling</em> wasn’t going to be enough…” Karai stood there awkwardly for a moment.</p><p>“Well, you don’t have to, but I did here that talking about it has many benefits.” Loki huffed what sounded like a laugh before sliding his feet over so Karai could sit on the bed. They sat there for a moment in silence.</p><p>“...If Thor told you about my actions with the Bifrost then he must’ve told you that I killed Laufey, my birth father?” Karai slowly nodded and Loki mentally rolled his eyes. Thor was such a blabbermouth.</p><p>“And you already know that I’m Jotun. This isn’t my true form, I used my early developing seidr as an infant to look like Odin. My birth mother, as well as Frigga, both were powerful sorceress. After journeying to Jotunheim not too long ago to find out the complete truth, I found out my fa-Laufey was a coward of a man...but only after he lost his love. The queen of Jotunheim now, Farbauti, was his second wife that he was forced to take after my mother’s death during the birth of me. What you experienced was because the dream I had was of me fighting so hard not to become the monster I was told that Jotuns are to please Odin, and in the process,  I watched Laufey, my birth mother, and Frigga all die at my hand. I suppose it overwhelmed me.” Overwhelm was probably an understatement. Silence fell once again between the two.</p><p>“...Show me.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Show me your Jotun form. Let’s see what there is to fear. You can tell if I’m lying and if you’re actually monstrous in my sight, we’ll never bring it up again. I’ve showed you myself, now it’s your turn.” Loki raised an eyebrow at her.</p><p>“I didn’t get to see you very well that night. I was extremely dark.”  Loki gave her a halfhearted smirk and Karai rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Alright, fine. Since we’ve become such good friends lately, I’ll show you my face, if you show me yours. I’ll even turn the light on so you can see properly.”</p><p>“What are we? Children?” ‘possibly’ he thought in the back of his mind. </p><p>“Very well.” Loki reluctantly consented and Karai ran over and hit the light before sitting back down.</p><p>“Okay, close your eyes and on the count of 3, open …...1…….2…….3!” They opened their eyes and exclaimed simultaneously at each other.</p><p>“Extraordinary!”</p><p>“Woah! So cool!” They took turns studying different aspects of each other’s features. Karai found herself mesmerized with Loki’s black horns and the raised markings on his face.</p><p>“Are these tribal or individual markings? And what about your horns? Does every Jotun have them or just royalty? Oh, can you make them retract?!” She found everything about him fascinating and he couldn’t believe it.</p><p>“They’re tribal. I carry Laufey’s markings as well as his horns. Only the men have them. The horns are a symbol of a strong bloodline. The bigger the horns, the stronger the bloodline is, which is why the men of the royal family typically have the largest.”</p><p>“So… in other words...You could say that you’re very horny?” Karai grinned and Loki rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Did you even hear what I said or were you just waiting to make that joke?” Karai just shrugs.</p><p>“Bit of both.” </p><p>They spent the rest of the evening discussing different aspects of each other, really getting to learn about the other’s kind for the first time and their equal hunger for knowledge kept them talking well into the morning. When Karai finally left Loki’s room, she couldn’t stop her heart from hammering in her chest or the butterflies that were proving to be alive and well in her belly. The night had been so innocent, yet it felt so ...intimate. For the first time in over a thousand years, Loki felt as if someone (aside from Frigga) truly accepted him as he was, blue and all. </p><p>Karai realized how much Loki had been waiting for an opportunity like this. Where he could ask all the questions about Muspels he wanted, and he had yet to run out of questions. Hours later and Karai woke up to the sun in her eyes. She looked around and was confused at first, she was lying across the bottom of Loki’s bed and he was sat up against his headboard asleep. She smiled in amusement, the two had been talking so much that they must have dozed off. Karai looked at her phone and her eyes went wide. It was nearly noon. They had slept through half the day, but more importantly, <em>She</em> had slept through half the day. It had still been dark out when she last remembered, so they had to have been asleep for at least 7 hours. She hadn’t gone more than 2 hours without having a nightmare in decades, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she knew Loki was to blame. It felt as if there was nothing to hide anymore. She knew what he was, and he knew what she was, but neither of them cared. They’d both been wronged by Odin and shared a similar grief because of it, and yet all they both wanted to do was just live their lives. A mutual feeling of acceptance. </p><p>Neither of them noticed how things gradually changed between them. Or maybe they had and refused to address it. Late night movies turned to waking up cuddled on the couch and awkward good mornings. Loki had finally decided that he needed to learn to live not so dependent on his magic. Every laundry day and meal prepared was done together. After Karai had taken Loki on another mission and he’d ended up actually needing her help, he’d finally dropped his pride and asked for her to help him resume training. Being a trained warrior on Asgard meant that Loki excelled at fighting easily, but even he noticed his slip ups on occasions. Every time Karai handed him his ass on a silver platter, he forced himself not to use his magic, pushing himself to excel more than ever. Despite being proud of being a master sorcerer, having weak spots was not something he took lightly. </p><p>Loki groaned as he collided with the ground.</p><p>“Come on, Mischief. You can’t expect me to think that you relied that heavily on your magic?” Karai teased him as he stood up.</p><p>“I think you forget, this is the first time you’ve pinned me all week, little one.” </p><p>“And that’s one too many for a Jotun Prince of Asgard, is it not?” Loki rolled his eyes. He’d noticed how Karai seemed to turn into a completely different person while training. Her usual caring nature turned harsher. If he pinned her, she acknowledged it and never was a sore loser. But the few times she had pinned him, his ego had nearly been thrown out the window when she reprimanded him, then she’d tell she knew he could do better.</p><p>“That last maneuver you used, you nearly broke my arm again. Are you more obsessed with leaving your victims immobile than actually killing them?”</p><p>“No. I was in a Midgardian military sector called the Navy Seals. We were special forces field operatives that are only used in certain situations. I was a Captain and I trained new recruits and we used those techniques to train the rookies. A dislocated shoulder or a fractured wrist was considered punishment at times. Taught them well, reminded them to not slip up. Now let's go. We’ve still got some daylight and you still have yet to pin me today.” Karai grinned at him </p><p>“I’m starting to believe that you enjoy being underneath me, pet.” Loki smirked, awaiting the snarky response that he just knew was coming. But it never did. Karai just cleared her throat and got in a defensive stance.</p><p>“Focus. If you end up on that ground again, I won’t hesitate to break something this time.” Loki raised an eyebrow at her. It was like she was putting on her tough exterior to cover up something. He took note of how flustered she’d looked only a moment ago. And if he saw correctly, he swore she looked as if she were blushing.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>It was a lovely Saturday afternoon when Karai and Loki’s happy little world was shattered. Karai was sat on one end of the couch, tablet in hand, reading, Loki was sat at the other end, actual book in hand, reading. Gabe was laid out comfortably on the floor by their feet, chewing on a bone. It was all so peaceful, too peaceful. Which is why it had to be ruined. Suddenly the floor beneath all three of them opened up and they fell through and yellow sparking ring on the floor. They landed with a thud on the ground and Karai groaned as she pushed Gabe off her, who was completely unharmed in the fall, unlike herself and Loki, who had landed right next to her. She looked up when a shadow loomed over her and she saw a familiar face with a very annoyed expression, and she smiled at him brightly.</p><p>“Eh, what’s up Doc?” Doctor Strange raised an eyebrow at her.</p><p>“Oh, nothing much, just trying to figure out why you’re playing house with a wanted criminal.”</p><p>“I’m not playing house, he’s being reformed.” Stephen rolled his eyes at her but didn’t bother questioning further, there was other work to be done. </p><p>“You all need to follow me.” He didn’t wait around, he just turned and left and Karai and Loki quickly stood up to follow. Loki leaned in close to whisper to her as they walked.</p><p>“Is that…?” Karai simply nodded to confirm his observation. It was indeed Doctor Stephan Strange. Loki wondered what she meant by they had similar mannerisms. This man was nothing like him.</p><p>“I would have called you Karai and asked for you to come over, but it appears an urgent matter has risen and we both know traffic is terrible this time of day.”</p><p>“You still could’ve called and warned me of the portal.” </p><p>“Yes, but where’s the fun in that? How else am I going to teach you not to keep secrets from your dear friend Stephen?” Strange smirked at her over his shoulder. Ah, now Loki saw it. </p><p>“So, why’d you call us here?” At that moment they turned a corner into a room and a man was sat with his back facing them.</p><p>“Because of that.” He said flatly and gestured to the man, at which the man stood and turned around. His expression went from calm to seething with rage.</p><p>“Loki!”</p><p>“Thor...”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I've attempted cliff hangers in past chapters, but I think this is the best one so far. Muahaha!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. And I would walk 500 miles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What happens when you put two gods, a fire demon, an ancient wolf descendant, and the Sorcerer Supreme in one room? Time to find out. Time to meet Thor and he's not the person everyone portrays him to be, luckily Gabe is there to step in.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>OMG I got 400 reads already! I love you all so much! Gonna start posting 1 chapter at a time though now. Gotta keep you all coming back for more. Hehe. This is where things get interesting. I had so much fun writing this chapter and the next few after this. To give you a better idea, this is the hairstyle I pictured Karai with later on, only the sides of her head are shaved instead of braided like in the photo. Photo is not mine and I cannot take credit for it. All credit goes to the original owner, Essence Magazine, I just found this on google. The young lady in this photo is actually a very good depiction of how I imagine Karai to look so hopefully it helps paint a better picture for you all.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Thor…” Loki simply glared at him, not being intimidated at all by Thor’s anger.</p><p>“Isn’t this a lovely family reunion?” Strange commented dryly and Karai just gave him a look that said ‘Really?’.</p><p>“What are you doing here Thor? Shouldn’t you be ruling Asgard, same as Odin?”</p><p>“What am I doing here? What are YOU doing here?! And where is father?”</p><p>“I’m sorry to disappoint you Thor, but I honestly have no clue where your father is. As for me, well I’m on vacation. I’ve been here ever since you left me on the realm of the dark elves.” Thor took a few steps forward and Gabe instantly jumped in front of Loki to growl at Thor and Karai wasn’t about to stop him. Thor was being hostile, and Gabe didn’t like hostility around the people he considered friends.</p><p>“Ooo, I’d be careful Thor. He’s a child of Fenrir.” Thor took a couple of steps back and Gabe stopped growling and laid by Loki’s feet in defense. He felt so honored that if Loki hadn’t been in the middle of something, he’d be smiling like a kid in a candy store.</p><p>“No more games, Loki. You are going to tell me where father is and then you are going back to Asgard to finish your sentence.”</p><p>“I’m sorry but I can’t do either of those, even if I wanted to.”</p><p>“Why is that?!”</p><p>“Because, Odin has gone missing.</p><p>And I’m already serving out my sentences here on Midgard. Karai here is making sure I stay in check and don’t do anything that would be a possible danger to anyone else.” He gestured to Karai and she waved at Thor.</p><p>“Hey Thor, how’s it going?” He waved back.</p><p>“Lady Karai, can you please explain what is going on?”</p><p>“Well it’s just like Loki said, he landed here on Midgard and is now serving out his multiple life sentences for the damage he caused, and I am in charge of him. And technically he cannot be counted as a wanted fugitive in Asgard anymore because you, the crown prince, did release him. You’d have to convict him of something else in order to take him away.” It technically wasn’t a lie on Karai’s part. She didn’t say exactly when Loki got to Midgard.</p><p>“And you have no proof I’ve done anything wrong in the past year, do you Thor?” Loki looked extremely smug and Thor was still seething and looked ready to pounce. He tried to take a step forward, but a low growl from Gabe had him taking a couple more steps back just in case.</p><p>“Fine! Just tell me where father is, and I’ll be on my way.”</p><p>“I don’t know where he is, but I can tell you where he was. He was living in a Midgardian retirement home the last time I saw him, but I recently found out that place has closed and is being demolished as we speak. They said everyone was moved to a new location except your father who just disappeared a month ago.” At that moment Strange had decided he had stayed quiet long enough.</p><p>“Excuse me, I’m sorry to interrupt but I may be able to be of some assistance. I can locate your father on one condition, you leave and go back to Asgard.” </p><p>“What about Loki?” Strange looked back at Loki then at Karai before turning back to face Thor.</p><p>“Karai is my good friend and is by far the most trustworthy and capable person I’ve ever met. If anyone can handle Loki, it’s definitely her. Not to mention, the Sorcerer Supreme is more than capable of handling anything that Loki can dish out.” Karai smiled at the compliment that Strange paid her and ignored his moment of gloating.</p><p>“Very well, you have my word, I will return to Asgard.”</p><p>“Wonderful.” Then a portal opened.</p><p>“He’s right through there. Nice to meet you, hope to never see you again.” Strange held out his hand and Thor shook it. He then stared at the portal like he was unsure, but at the last minute, Thor quickly reached for Loki and threw him through the portal and then jumped in himself as it closed.</p><p>“LOKI!” Karai tried to jump in after them, but the portal closed at that moment, and instead she hit the ground with a thud. Strange was just standing there, eyes slightly wide with surprise.</p><p>“...Well that was unexpected.”  </p><p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Loki fell hard against the grass he landed on. It even took him a moment to realize what Thor had just done. Now he was furious. He was just fine living on Midgard, and Thor had to come and mess that up.</p><p>“What in the bloody hell were you thinking?! I was supposed to stay there! Were you not listening or are you just that idiotic?” Thor raised his hammer in his hand.</p><p>“You’ll mind your words Loki, you don’t have that little fire demon and her mutt to protect you now.” Loki was fuming. How dare Thor refer to Karai and Gabe in that way.</p><p>“I can’t believe my own ears. She said she told you of her heritage and you and the Avengers gladly accepted her.”</p><p>“The Avengers accepted her with open arms. I, on the other hand, know the true power of her kind. I was there when father ordered the strike and glad he did so. Those creatures were that of destruction and belonged back in Hel where they came from.”</p><p>“I’ll make you regret those words.” Daggers materialized in Loki’s hands and Thor got into a ready stance. Just as Loki was about to strike, a voice finally spoke up.</p><p>“Boys, stop fighting and come quickly, my time grows short.”</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>“Strange, you have to send me after them!”</p><p>“Absolutely not. Thor gave me his word that he would go back to Asgard, and now that he’s taken Loki with him, it makes things much easier for me.” Karai huffed in annoyance and then a smirk grew across her face as she thought up a perfect excuse.</p><p>“That’s fine, but you may want to look ahead in time. Are there any possible scenarios where Loki rebels because of this and decides to try and take over the Universe again?” Strange was quiet for a moment and then sighed. He knew the truth without even looking into the future. </p><p>“Shit. You love being right, don’t you? How’d you get to be so wise?” Karai smiled</p><p>“It comes with age old friend.” Strange just shook his head and opened the portal back up.</p><p>“I’m not keeping this open for long, there are several other worst possible scenarios if I do. You need to grab Loki and come back. If it closes, I can’t bring you back for the possibility of an even grimmer future.” she nodded her understanding.</p><p>“You know me, Strange. I’ll find a way back if I have to. Do me a favor though, look out for my army of mini mes and Peter and Wade while I’m gone?” Stephen nodded and Gabe walked up to Karai and kneeled down, a gesture to tell her to climb on. She smiled at the wolf and climbed onto his back. </p><p>“Come on sweetie, let’s go bring Loki home.” With that, Gabe jumped through the portal.</p><p>They landed on a soft grassy plain and Karai could see Thor and Loki and another man talking a little further away. As Gabe proceeded forward, Karai was able to clearly see who the man was.</p><p>“Odin…” As if he could hear her from that distance, he looked towards her and gestured for her to come closer. Gabe sped up and as soon as they reached the group, she climbed off.</p><p>“I’m glad you could join us dear girl. This matter involves you as well.”</p><p>“What could you possibly have to say to me?” Her words came out harsher than she intended but Odin just gave her a small smile and looked at them all.</p><p>“This matter concerns you all, as you will all need each other in this,”</p><p>“Father, what could possibly be going on that you would dare need one of her kind?” Karai raised a questioning eyebrow at Thor and from the look on Loki’s face she could tell that something had definitely happened before her arrival.</p><p>“Silence my child, there will be no more of that. During my time outside of Asgard I have come to realize more and more of the mistakes I have made over my lifetime. Sadly, I don’t have enough time to correct everything, but I can warn you.”</p><p>“Warn us of what?”</p><p>“There is a great evil coming, one of my own making. There is only one way for it to be stopped, you all will have to work together.” Loki and Thor looked at each other rather annoyed.</p><p>“What if we don’t?”</p><p>“Then darkness shall fall, and the universe will change as we know it.” They all looked to each other and nodded. And Odin suddenly stood.</p><p>“My time draws near. This is goodbye, my children. And Thor, don’t make the same mistakes I made.” With nothing else said, Odin was gone. But before anyone had time to make a comment, a woman suddenly appeared. She was dressed in all black and looked even more gothic than Loki.</p><p>“Is the old man gone already? Pity, I didn’t get to say goodbye.”</p><p>“Who are you?” Thor finally spoke and her grin was sinister.</p><p>“I am Hela, Odin’s firstborn and rightful heir to the throne. How are you little brothers?” They looked at her confused.</p><p>“He never bothered to mention me? Aww, well dear old dad was ashamed of me I suppose. I reminded him of everything he used to be.” She feigned hurt but just laughed maniacally </p><p>“What do you want?” </p><p>“It’s quite simple so do keep up Loki, I want my throne.”</p><p>“You cannot have it and shall have to go through me to get it.” Lightning cracked and Thor’s armor appeared. A haze of green and Loki was clad in his. A burst of flames formed around Karai and soon she was covered in leather and metal armor that resembled Roman gladiators with the etchings of flames all around it. Her eyes and hair danced with flames and her hands turned to molten rock as she gripped an intricately designed sword. Gabe snarled from beside her and was ready to attack.</p><p>“Ooo, a Muspel. I thought you were all dead. This should be all the more fun.”  Thor threw his hammer and Hela caught it like it was nothing. They stared at her in shock and then it crumbled in her hand. Fear ran down all of their spines and Karai whispered to Loki</p><p>"This may be harder than we thought."</p><p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Karai woke up in pain. As she looked around, she noticed that she was on a pile of trash and before she could do anything, a net was thrown over her and electricity shot through her. She screamed in pain until she passed out.</p><p>Karai woke again strapped to a chair. She looked around until she finally saw Gabe being held at spear point and a collar around his neck.</p><p>"Gabe! Get away from him!" She struggled against her binds, but they refused to yield. </p><p>"I wouldn't move too much. You'll just tire yourself." She looked up at the voice to see Loki being held by guards. He had a similar collar around his neck.</p><p>"Also don't aggravate the guards, their spears melt flesh." Thor spoke up from behind her. She craned her neck to see that he was also strapped to a chair. Before any further conversation was made, a sparkly man walked in with a woman in armor and blue war paint on her face. She reeked of alcohol.</p><p>"My my, what gifts have you brought me today?"</p><p>"Release us at once!" Thor shouted. Struggling harder in his chair.</p><p>"Ooo feisty. I like it. What do they call you?”</p><p>“I am Thor Odinson, the god of Thunder, prince of Asgard.”</p><p>“Assgard?” Karai rolled her eyes at the glitter man.</p><p>“You know, gods and goddesses? Ruled by Odin?” A look of realization hit.</p><p>“Ah yes, Assgard. My brother’s done some work for them, I think. Well are you all from there…?”</p><p>“Pozharnik, and no. These two are Asgardian. I’m a simple woman from Midgard and that is my dog.” She tried to play the seemingly harmless role. Perhaps she could get her way out of this. She plastered a smile on her face and turned up her charm.</p><p>“And who is it I have the pleasure of speaking with?” A smile grew across his face. Bingo.</p><p>“I am the Grandmaster. I hold the contest of champions here on Sakaar. People are brought from all over the universe to compete in my contest.” Loki scuffed and rolled his eyes, unfortunately catching the Grandmaster’s attention. </p><p>“And who are you tall, dark and brooding?”</p><p>“I am Loki, god of mischief and lies.” the Grandmaster scoffed.</p><p>“Again with the <em> gods </em>, well at least it will help make stage names.” He turned to the woman from before. </p><p>“I’ll take’em. I think they will do nicely in my contest. Especially that one.” He gestured to Gabe and Karai’s blood ran cold. </p><p>“Please! Whatever you do, don’t separate me and my dog. I beg you. He’s still nothing more than a pup. He won’t survive on his own!” The Grandmaster’s eyes went wide.</p><p>“<em> That </em> is a puppy?!” Shit.</p><p>“We have really big dogs on Midgard?” The Grandmaster narrowed his eyes but not like he was analyzing her, more like he was thinking.</p><p>“Pozharnik and The Helhound...I like it. Get them ready. And I want that one against my champion.” He pointed at Thor and then he simply left the room.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>They were sitting in the holding cells awaiting their challenges and trying to think of a way to escape. Thor had started talking to the woman from earlier through the cell. Apparently she was a Valkyrie, but she sure as hell looked and smelled like something pulled out of an alley. Karai was sitting and Gabe’s head was in her lap. After the Grandmaster had left, they’d all undergone makeovers. Thor’s hair was cut short. Karai thinks Loki managed to do some small kind of magic, because the old man didn’t cut his hair, just messed it up. It actually looked good on him. He had that ‘Just rolled out of bed, but still deadly as hell’ look. Karai was extremely upset about hers. The old man shaved her head on both sides, only leaving her curly hair going down the middle of her head like a mohawk. She had seen some women totally pull this look off, but she just didn’t like it. Her curls hung down towards her face, she had a blue stripe of war paint going down the left side of her face. She didn’t bother summoning her armor again, just took scraps they found. Gabe even had a slight makeover. They’d painted along his fur in reds and oranges to emphasize the name HelHound. And Karai was beyond pissed about it.</p><p>“I’m so killing them for this.” She was gently petting his head. They were waiting on Thor so they could continue making  a plan of escape, but he was apparently busy making friends.</p><p>“They shall all pay. I’ll make sure of it.” Loki was just as mad as Karai was about it. And getting even more irritated at Thor.</p><p>“If we don’t hurry and get off this infernal planet, we’ll never make it back to Asgard in time to stop Hela.”</p><p>“What makes you think she’s going to Asgard, Mischief?” He sighed and hung his head.</p><p>“Because it’s what I would do if I wanted the throne and had the power to take it. Or rather, what I have done.” Karai nodded solemnly. Loki had finally had enough and got up to go confront Thor, when some guards told him he was up. Worry etched across Karai’s face. They’d taken the collar off a while ago, but instead put bands on his wrists. The bands allowed him to use his magic but only small amounts of seidr and shocked him whenever he tried to teleport. Would he be alright in battle?</p><p>“Be careful, Mischief.” He looked back at her and smiled.</p><p>“You as well, darling.” Her breathing hitched a little in her throat at the name and she watched as Loki left. She could hear the Grandmaster over the loudspeaker</p><p>“Let’s hear it for, The Trickster god!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Now you must wait for more! Muahahaha!!! Please like and comment! I'm loving the feedback!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. You Are My Sunshine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Battles on Sakaar are not proving to be easy and Karai can't stand to see Gabe get an owie. Or a story of a girl and her dog trying to survive a planet dead set on killing them.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay so we have a lot of violence in the chapter. Most violence so far. It's Sakaar so I think that's kind of implied but here's an extra forewarning.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She stayed there pacing back and forth. Gabe had decided to try and take a short nap she assumed because he was nestled up in a ball, asleep. She was glad that he at least wasn’t stressing over this. It felt like hours had gone by when they finally opened the doors again and Loki came limping into the cell. </p><p>“Loki!” She rushed over to him and helped him to sit down. He had bruises and cuts all over his face and hands, she could only imagine what the rest of him had to look like.</p><p>“What did they make you fight?”</p><p>“Some fucking pink blob man-shaped creature that was able to keep regenerating instantly. Fortunately, it’s weak spot was between its eyes and yours truly is a master knife wielder.” He gave her a smug grin and she just shook her head as she smiled. </p><p>“Still doesn’t give you a right to get hurt, Mischief. I thought I told you to be careful.” Loki was about to respond when the guards appeared again.</p><p>“Girl and dog, you’re up!” Karai’s face fell and she reached down to nudge Gabe awake. He jumped up and Karai turned to head towards the gate when Loki grabbed her arm and gave her a serious look before standing up the best he could and pulling her in for a tight hug. It shocked her for a second, but she gladly hugged him back. When he finally pulled back and set her with a steady gaze.</p><p>“Be careful, little one.” She gave him a small smile.</p><p>“Aren’t I always, Mischief?” with that she let him go and walked out of the cell doors with Gabe.</p><p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>“Alright everyone, let’s hear it for Pozharnik and HelHound!” The crowd roared and Karai and Gabe stepped out into the arena. Gabe just sat down next to Karai as she stood and awaited her opponent.</p><p>“And to challenge her, we have Behemoth!” </p><p>‘A Behemoth? How’d they get one of those?’ She wondered. She hadn’t seen one in centuries, but it wouldn’t make it any harder to fight. </p><p>Karai soon realized that Behemoth was another stage name and it made her blood run cold, literally. What stepped out into the arena was a Frost Beast from Jotunheim. She had only read about them as a child. She’d thought they were fictional but was clearly proven wrong. The creature looked at her as if she were an ant to step on. Karai grumbled, relatively annoyed at the Grandmaster.</p><p>“You’ve got to be kidding me.” The beast roared at them and stood on two legs and Karai arched an eyebrow at it, clearly unamused. She kneeled down on one knee next to Gabe and whispered in his ear.</p><p>“Showtime sweetie.” With that, Karai stepped back a few feet and Gabe’s eyes narrowed. He began to snarl and snap as his muscles began to stretch and his bones grew. Karai wasn’t lying to Loki when she said that she knew Gabe was mixed with another dog, just didn’t know what, but she always knew he was special. She smiled as the wolf grew from his 4-and-a-half-foot stature, to nearly ten feet tall, while on all fours. He knelt down and she climbed onto his back. She could have probably let Gabe handle this on his own, but where was the fun in that?</p><p>“Simple Midgardian woman and her dog my ass.” The Grandmaster grumbled from his seat in his private box.</p><p>At the same time, Gabe and the Frost Beast charged at each other. Just when it was close enough range, Karai launched herself at the beast and Gabe turned his body just enough to aim right at the beast’s throat. They moved together like a well-rehearsed dance and simultaneously struck the beast. Karai dug her sword into the beast’s eye while Gabe locked his jaw around its throat. The beast roared and dug its giant claws into Gabe, causing him to release it. Gabe jumped back from the beast and snarled at it. The beast reached one of its hands up to grab Karai, only to have its hand sliced off. It howled in pain as Karai gripped a new sword in her hand. The sword her father once wielded, forged of metal strong enough to withstand their touch and slice through anything, even worlds. The crimson blade with spikes sticking out from the hilt was hot enough to slice through limbs and cauterize them in the process. It was to ensure a merciless death, making it so that your victims did not bleed out as you slowly rid them of their limbs and make them suffer even more.</p><p>The beast thrashed its body about. It swung its head so hard that Karai struggled to hang on. Gabe tried attacking again, aiming lower for stealth, but the beast saw him and slammed its enormous, spiked tail down on Gabe in an instant. Karai’s heart plummeted at the sight. The beast moved its tail and dragged Gabe with it, causing the spikes to do even more damage on his lower abdomen, but the wolf refused to give in. The beast used its other hand to grab Karai while she was distracted, and it squeezed her like a viper. She struggled and groaned in the beast’s grip, the frost of its skin beginning to bite some at her skin. Gabe bit at the end of the beast’s tail until it ripped off. The beast roared again and dropped Karai to the ground, before she could attempt to attack, a wolf went flying past her. Gabe launched himself at the beast one last time, his claws ready to sink into its skin and teeth aimed for his throat. He latched on and refused to let go, hanging on for dear life. The skin of the frost beast was much thicker than that of any earthly animal, however, and all too quickly, the claws sunk into Gabe. The yelp is what Karai heard. She didn’t hear the screams of the crowd or notice her dislocated shoulder, or even the yells from Loki somewhere far off. All she heard was Gabe’s yelp.</p><p>“GABE!!!” The giant wolf fell to the ground and the beast prepared to finish him off. Tears clouded Karai’s eyes and she almost didn’t see the attack aiming for Gabe...Almost. </p><p>Karai’s body moved on instinct. Before she knew it, she stood over Gabe, hair and eyes ablaze and the beast's other hand was on the ground. Her gaze dared it to come any closer and it literally took a step back, as if intimidated for a moment. She climbed off Gabe and her eyes returned to normal, still full of tears.</p><p>“It’s gonna be okay, sweetie. Can you shrink down for me?” His body shrunk back down, and she scooped him up in her arms and quickly ran and sat him by the doors to the arena. She laid her hand on his more severe wound, cauterizing it for the moment. She then delicately patted his head.</p><p>“Just stay here, mommy’s gonna go handle this and then we’ll get out of here.” She gave him a sad smile and a kiss on the head before turning around to face the beast. The rage she felt ignited the flame within her. Flames lit in her eyes and her body slowly turned to molten lava and rock. Her hair was already in flames that danced down the middle of her head and the ground scorched beneath her feet. The crowd had gone quiet and watched as she stalked up to the creature. It glared at her, as if calculating her every movement. All too fast, she attacked. She ran underneath the beast, cutting off each of its legs, then its arms, then the rest of its tail. She was everywhere at once and all she knew was one thing, she was going to make it suffer. The beast was down to only its head left and Karai stood on its back, lifting her sword to finish the job. That’s when a violent shock went through her body and she fell out. She could hear the muffled screams of the crowd and the Grandmaster.</p><p>“Looks like the cold does bother our hothead Pozharnik after all. Behemoth is the winner!” And then everything went black.</p><p>---------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Karai woke up to Loki looking at her worried but relief filled him as she opened her eyes.</p><p>“Oh, thank the Norns you’re awake.”</p><p>“Loki? What happened?” </p><p>“You were about to kill a frost beast when you suddenly fell unconscious. I healed your shoulder, but I detected no injury to cause your fainting spell. Did the cold of the beast’s skin really become too much for you?”</p><p>“What? No, all I remember is feeling electricity coming from my… wait a second.” She reached up and touched her neck, only to find a tiny metal device was stuck there.</p><p>“Loki, what the fuck is this thing?!” Loki looked and saw what she meant.</p><p>“That would be one of the Grandmaster’s devices that he uses to rig his competitions. He just used it on Thor as well.”</p><p>“Wait, Thor’s fight is over? Who was the champion?” Loki visibly grimaced. </p><p>“The Hulk.” He told her about the match and that Thor was now talking to the Hulk. Loki had been able to watch both her and Thor’s match through a tiny viewing window in the corner of the cell that she wished she’d known about earlier.. Suddenly realization hit her.</p><p>“Where’s Gabe?!” She was starting to panic but Loki reassured her.</p><p>“Calm down, he’s right here resting. I’ve already taken the liberty to help with his injuries. With the little magic I have, I wasn’t able to completely heal him, but his natural healing abilities should take care of the rest. He’ll be fine in no time. The real question is, why didn’t you tell me he could grow to double his size?” She gave him a small sad smile</p><p>“You never asked.”</p><p>Karai looked and saw Gabe sound asleep on the other side of Loki. She crawled over to him and snuggled into his back while wrapping her arms around him as best she could without waking him up. </p><p>“Thank you, Loki.” She mumbled before falling back into a dreamless sleep. She didn’t realize how much that fight had taken out of her, or more importantly, how much possible damage that shock had done to her. No telling how many volts that had to be if it took out both her and Thor. Loki just simply ran his hand down the newly shaved sides of her head in a comforting manner. </p><p>“You’re welcome, little one.”</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Karai and Gabe were awakened this time to the sound of the cell doors opening and a guard walking up to them.</p><p>“The Grandmaster wants a word with you three.”</p><p>When they arrived before the Grandmaster, he asked them to sit on the couch and so they did hesitantly.</p><p>“I’ll cut right to the chase, first you nearly killed one of my best competitors in front of my audience and now I had to kill it because it was completely useless thanks to you. I’ll have to think of a reason not involving you to be his cause of death, so it still seems like you did not defeat him. Now, Thor has escaped and ran away with my champion. Now, I need to know where he is or I’m going to become very unhappy and believe me you don’t want that.”</p><p>They looked at each other, shocked and then at the Grandmaster. How could Thor just leave them? Odin had told them to stick together. Had it not been for the fact that she needed him as well so they could defeat Hela and she could get back home, she wouldn’t have even considered Odin’s last words, she would’ve just grabbed Loki and went back through Strange’s portal. Now, Thor had escaped without them.</p><p>“I apologize Grandmaster, but we have no idea.”</p><p>“Hmm, yeah see that’s not the answer I wanted to hear.” He snapped his fingers and guards with melty spears walked closer.</p><p>“Wait!” The Grandmaster held up his hand to stop them and Loki continued.</p><p>“The city, if he’s going to try and escape, it’s through the city. He’ll try and blend in but won’t be successful whatsoever. You’ll easily spot him.”</p><p>“And you’re sure of this?”</p><p>“If I’m wrong, you have my permission to execute me. Just please leave them out of it. They don’t know Thor and hardly know me, we’ve only met a day or so ago and we all landed on Sakaar together. Nothing more.” Karai just stared at Loki in shock.</p><p>“Hmm, I did rather enjoy seeing them fight today, as did the crowd. Killing a crowd pleaser is bad for business, which is exactly what she did, but I could make her my new crowd pleaser. I’d love to see what else she can do. Very well, you have a deal.” They shook hands and were dismissed. </p><p>As soon as they reached the cell and the guards were gone, Karai punched Loki in the gut. Hard. He was about to ask what that was for when she suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. She buried her face in his neck and he ran his hand down her head. He couldn’t help loving the feeling of her in his arms, and she would hopelessly deny the fact that she enjoyed it just as much.</p><p>“Why would you do that, you idiot?” Her voice was slightly muffled, but he could still understand it.</p><p>“To protect you, little one.”</p><p>“I’m over 1300, I don’t need protecting.”</p><p>“I know, but for you, I’d do it anyway. I’d die a thousand times if it meant you would be safe, Karai.” She pulled back and looked at him. His expression was sincere, and his eyes held an emotion that almost looked like...adoration.</p><p>“Why? What are you saying Loki?” Loki gave her a small smile.</p><p>“Well the truth is I-” Loki was cut off by a badly timed visit from Thor who suddenly appeared at the cell door.</p><p>“Brother, Karai, we’ve found a way to escape, come on!”</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Tell me what you thought! First ever real action scene I've written so I went over it like 20 times before I finally made myself stop fussing over it and post.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. I Will Always Love You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>If I should stay I would only be in your way. So I'll go but I know I'll think of you every step of the way.</p><p>I hope life treats you kind and I hope you have all you dreamed of. And I wish to you joy and happiness. But above all this I wish you love.</p><p>And I will always love you...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is brought to you today by the phenomenal song 'I Will Always Love You' sang by Dolly Parton and then redone by the amazing Whitney Houston who still makes this song bring tears to our eyes to this very day. I chose this song because this chapter gets a little sad. Sacrifices must be made.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thor had managed to get them out of the cell and now Karai, Loki and Gabe were sat on one of the Grandmaster’s ships, with Thor, the Valkyrie, and Dr. Banner all while being chased by the Grandmaster’s fleet.</p><p>“Enjoying your first time on another planet, Bruce?” Karai tried to lighten the mood as he seemed to be hanging on to his seat for dear life.</p><p>“I’ll admit, it hasn’t been pleasant.”</p><p>Loki and Karai were helping to defend the ship when a plan hatched.</p><p>“Loki, can you throw a dagger directly at that ship’s windshield?” They had taken off his magic inhibitors already so he could’ve done much more than that.</p><p>“Of course, why?” She just smirked mischievously.</p><p>“I have a plan.”</p><p>He threw the dagger at the ship and it did enough to cause a distraction, because the pilot didn’t see the flaming rock she’d thrown at him. The rock went through the windshield and landed right on the pilot’s lap and he lost control while scrambling to get it off. His ship went down and took out the whole fleet with it as it crashed. Loki raised an eyebrow at the destruction, impressed. </p><p>“You know, you didn’t need me to throw the dagger for you to have the same desired effect.”</p><p>“I know, but his expression was a lot funnier when that rock seemingly came out of nowhere.” She snickered as she went to her seat and Loki just shook his head in amusement.</p><p>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>On the ride to Asgard, Karai had somehow dozed off. She woke up to the feeling of Gabe licking her face and Loki shaking her arm.</p><p>“Karai, wake up, you’ll want to see this.” She got up and walked over to the window with Loki right as they flew over the horizon to reveal a beautiful kingdom paved in gold.</p><p>“Welcome to Asgard, little one.”</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>The plan had been to have Thor go and take on Hela, while Loki, Karai, and Valkyrie prepared to battle her army, and Bruce was going to stay on the ship and be ready to help rescue Asgardians. That was until Fenrir made an appearance. He’d tried to attack the Asgardians as they were escaping. Of course, Gabe heard this, and ran out of the ship to take on Fenrir himself. Karai wasn’t about to let him go alone, but then the army attacked. Luckily, a ship came in carrying Thor’s friends from Sakaar. Karai, Valkyrie and Loki were clad in their battle armor, Loki having made some changes to his and damn did it look good. They charged into battle, and Karai only had one thing on her mind, get to Gabe. She was being overwhelmed by the enemy when something made a loud smack on the rainbow bridge and she only had a second to see that it was Bruce and grimaced before a sword was swung at her face again. After a moment, Hulk was out and fighting Fenrir with Gabe, the three of them gradually making their way towards a waterfall. She wanted to take off and run towards them but the enemy attacking her just wouldn’t let up. Thor came blazing into battle, lightning surrounding him, easily taking out the enemy. Karai used the opportunity to go and help fight Fenrir. She jumped into the air, a strong flame ignited under her feet for a second and pro-pulsed her through the air. She landed on a nearby river bank in time to see Fenrir be tossed over the waterfall, Hulk banging on his chest and Gabe howling. Karai rolled her eyes at them and scoffed.</p><p>“Men.”  She whistled for Gabe who came running up to her, already carrying Hulk, and let her climb on his back, taking them back to the rainbow bridge. Hela showed up with a vengeance. The Asgardians and Sakaarians rushed to board the ship, Heimdall being given strict instructions to take off if things looked too bleak for the heroes, even Hulk had been sent to the ship. All who were left fighting were Karai, Thor, and Loki. Gabe remained close by to ensure a quick getaway. Thor had come up with a plan suddenly, catching them all off guard.</p><p>“We need to raise Surtr!” Karai looked at him shocked.</p><p>“W-Why?”</p><p>“So we can get off of Asgard! If we fulfill the prophecy, Hela will be distracted and we can all leave!”</p><p>“Not gonna happen. We’ve got this-” Suddenly the ground began to rumble around them. Out of the water, a giant wall made of Hela’s black spears began to grow towards the sky. Looking around, they noticed that the wall was growing all around them and forming a dome like structure.</p><p>“She’s going to trap us here!” Loki shouted, trying to use his seidr to break through the wall, only chipping away at it. He found he could make a portal through it, but not one big enough for the ship to break through.</p><p>“It’s no use! Tell them to leave while they can!” Thor gave the signal and the ship began to rise, only for a spear to be shot through one of the engines. It landed back on the Bi-frost, having not risen more than a few feet. A few of the Asgardians piled out along with Hulk, someone saying that they could repair it in no time. The heroes sighed in relief, but it was short lived as Hela’s dome closed around them.</p><p>“Much better. I grow rather tired of people trying to abandon me.” Hela looked at them rather smug, as if she’d just won. Thor looked to Karai and Loki.</p><p>“We need to raise Surtr Now! It’s our last chance of escape.” </p><p>“You can’t! He’s dead!”</p><p>“But we have his skull and the eternal flame!”</p><p>“That wasn’t his skull, you idiot! That was...his crown…” Realization hit Karai and she knew what to do, but it was pretty much suicide. Still, it was the only way.</p><p>“What?” Loki looked at her confused. She shook herself from her slight haze.</p><p>“I need to get to my father’s crown and the eternal flame. Can you get me in there?” He nodded and they both looked towards Thor.</p><p>“Think you can handle her on your own for a while?” Thor gave Loki a smirk.</p><p>“I grew up with you didn’t I? Go on. I’ll be fine. I’ve got a Hulk.” He said the last part with a chuckle and they nodded before Loki quickly wrapped an arm around Karai’s waist, in an instant they were teleported into the palace vault.</p><p>“What’s the plan?”</p><p>“I’m going to take out Hela.”</p><p>“How?” She spotted her father’s crown and put it on. It instantly transformed to fit her head.</p><p>“By being the downfall of Asgard.” Sudden realization hit Loki and he protested.</p><p>“No, absolutely not. That’s suicide Karai. I won’t let you do this. Come on, take this off. We’ll think of another plan.” He tried to take it off her head but it wouldn’t budge.</p><p>“Loki stop, once it’s on, it’s til death.” He huffed in annoyance.</p><p>“Alright fine, it can stay on, but we’re leaving, come on.” He pulled her arm but she wouldn’t move.</p><p>“Karai come on we have to go now, Thor can’t hold her off much longer.”</p><p>“I know, that’s why I have to do this, Loki!”</p><p>“I already told you, No!”</p><p>“But..”</p><p>“No! There has to be another way, just give me time to think. I-I can come up with another plan.” He started pacing back and forth trying to think and she calmly walked up to him.</p><p>“J-Just give me a little longer, I’ll come up with something.” She gently placed her hand on his shoulder.</p><p>“Loki…” He grabbed her by her shoulders firmly.</p><p>“It’s not going to happen! I can’t lose you!” She gently placed her hand on his cheek.</p><p>“Loki, I know this is hard. But I can’t live with the thought of everyone, and most of all you and Gabe, dying because there was something I could have done and I didn't. If we don’t stop Hela now, she’s going to attack the rest of the Nine Realms.” He hung his head low and she tilted his chin back up and smiled at him.</p><p>“I’ve lived a full life, Loki, and because of you, I found love when I thought it was lost to me forever. Thank you.” There, she’d finally admitted it to him. She loved him and his heart ached at the thought of this being the end. She gently caressed his cheek with her knuckles and he reached up to take her hand.</p><p>“Karai, I love you with all my being...I can’t bare to lose you...”</p><p>“I’ll be okay. You have been given a second chance at life. Take the chance, Mischief. Don’t waste it mourning me, or I’ll find a way to kick your ass even in Valhalla.” He gave her a sad smile. She knew she wasn’t coming back from this one. Out of all the things she’s lived through, this would be her downfall and she was finally ready. She was prepared to fulfill her destiny.</p><p>“What life is there to live if you are not there to share it with me?”</p><p>“If you can’t bare to live without me, then live for me, my love. Live everyday knowing that you alone know the truth of my sacrifice today and make sure my legacy never dies. I want people to think of me and say <em> “That’s the woman who destroyed the shit out of Asgard to save her dog and her boyfriend!” </em>” Loki chuckled at the last part.</p><p>“There’s that smile. Promise me it won’t fade?”</p><p>“I promise…” She smiled at him and then tears began to well up in her eyes as she realized all she was leaving behind. She tried hard to fight them back, not wanting him to see her cry when she had to do this. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and tried her best to keep her voice from shaking.</p><p>“Good. Now you’ll have to help look out for Gabe, and be sure my children and everyone else know that I love them.’” He gave her a curt nod, he fought the urge to just grab her and leave as he watched her fight back tears. She moved to release him, but he kept hold of her hand.</p><p>“Loki pleas-” She was cut off by Loki pulling her back in his arms and pressed his lips to hers. They poured all of their feelings into the kiss, wanting to hang on to this moment forever, despite that their lungs began to burn in need of oxygen.A tear finally made its way down the side of Karai’s face. Why did the Fates have to be so cruel to her? They finally released each other and Karai chuckled a little, wiping the tear stain from her face.</p><p>“You know, Thor’s probably dead by now thanks to us.” A small, bitter laugh slipped out of Loki as well.</p><p>“He’s fine. Believe me, it takes a lot to kill him. I’ve tried.”</p><p>“Ah, that’s right. You were the <em>G</em><em>od</em> of Mischief.” That signature smirk spread across his face.</p><p>“Oh darling, I’m offended. You say it as if I ever stopped.” The smug, mischievous grin never faltered, but Karai could still see the sadness in his eyes.</p><p>“Well then Mischief, this may take a while. You think you could stall for me for a bit?”</p><p>“You can always count on me, darling. Consider it done.”</p><p>They both put on a smile as a facade as they walked in front of the eternal flame, neither of them wanting to show the other how truly painful this all was. Loki took a step back, letting his hand linger in hers until they were out of reach. Karai turned around and placed her hands in the eternal flame. She closed her eyes and began to say a chant that she was taught as a child to summon the flame and Loki watched as the flames slowly crawled up her arms but never burned her. She turned to face toward the rest of the room. She opened her eyes, now lit with flames once again, she began moving about the room in an ancient dance, the summoning ritual. It was to summon the spirits of their ancestors who wore the crown before her, giving her the strength and ability to become the bringer of chaos needed to destroy Hela. Loki knew he had to leave, so with one last sad smile, he murmured a ‘good bye’ and then vanished. </p><p>Karai was now stuck in the trance that this ritual put her in and hadn’t even noticed Loki leave, but she was able to feel a change around her, as if something was now gone. She moved about with flames while still chanting. Tiny flames were thrown about the room and then made trails back to Karai. They rose and encircled her and it looked like the flames danced with her. The remaining fire still on her arms now began to sweep all around her body and melted her skin away instantly to reveal the molten rock beneath it, then traveled to her chest to settle into the crest on her heart. Karai shouted one final word and then ceased. She stood there for a moment, preparing herself for the last step. The only way to summon her ancestral spirits...was to give up her own soul in the process. She’d give up her free will, only following as the flame told her to do. She’d no longer speak her own mind, but that which the flame allowed. It was a complete surrender, and could very well endanger her chance of going to Valhalla if she did not die a worthy enough death. She was risking it all. Her father had never gone this far, never fully surrendering, he’d told her once before that he had learned to tap into the power of their ancestors without surrendering to the flame...but she never got a chance to learn. An anger began to blaze within her as Karai said 5 simple words.</p><p>“Alright, Fires of Hel, I surrender.” And with those final words, the stagnant, docile flames, engulfed the palace and her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. I Would Die For You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Loki is tasked with stalling Hela and he does it in a very 'Loki' way. Karai battles the demons within her to try and save the ones she loves, but will she pay for it in the end? What will become of our beloved Karai?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>What's this? An early update? Treating you all to something special this week. Last chapter before the end and the beginning of an epic to part finale. I just want to say how much I adore this story and I really appreciate all the support you all have given me. Last chapter gets posted Thursday still.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Loki returned to Thor to find him struggling to stay alive at this point and Hulk trying to smash his way to Hela through her mountains of spikes and death that she continued to surround him with.</p><p>'She really is the goddess of death.' He thought. But he was the god of mischief wasn’t he? A sinister smile spread across Loki's face.</p><p>“Hela!” the goddess stopped and looked towards him.</p><p>“You’ll have to wait your turn to die, adopted brother, I’m going in a row of age.”</p><p>“See that is the problem, I’m beginning to question Thor’s true birth now. I look at you and myself. We both wanted power, we both were cast aside by father, we both even  have similar taste in fashion, obviously. Are we absolutely sure that Thor isn’t actually the one adopted?” Thor looked at him crazy and Hela actually took a moment to think, but didn’t let her guard down.</p><p>“Come now Loki, we all know that you’re Jotun. Stop trying to live in a fantasy world. And just for the record, these were my colors first.”</p><p>“Well, we technically already live in a fantasy world according to the Midgardians, but that is beside the point. The point is, who is to say that I’m not half?” Hela rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Alright, I’ll play along since I am a generous older sister. What do you want Loki?”</p><p>“It’s not much really, just total freedom from Thanos.”</p><p>“You want me to kill Thanos?”</p><p>“How my freedom is gotten is none of my concern. I just don’t want to be on the run from him anymore.”</p><p>“What’s in it for me?”</p><p>“Well, not only do you stop the Titan’s plan of destroying the universe, but if I am Odin’s actual son, and not Thor, I will gladly hand over the kingdom and my birthright. No questions asked.” Thor looked at Loki shocked. If there was one thing the god of mischief would never do, it's give up what he felt was his birthright.</p><p>“As intriguing as that is, we all know that you’re adopted.” Loki rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Well don’t I at least stake a claim to the throne? I’ve been the one ruling these past few years!” Hela looked at him a little more intrigued.</p><p>“Were you now? How did Asgard fair under your leadership?” He smirked internally. Bingo.</p><p>“The bloody place flourished. The Nine were at peace, Asgard was at peace. All of it was dreadfully boring, but I had to still mind the things I did or else Heimdall might have informed Thor and the one thing I couldn’t do was lift that cursed hammer. I could have turned the Nine against Thanos myself and had total complete rule over all of Yggdrasil. Instead I had to pretend to be Odin and ‘<em>protect’  </em>the realms,  and rule as a sovereign king.” Hela rolled her eyes.</p><p>“Will you quit droning on Loki?”</p><p>“Alright look, I have just as much claim to the throne at this point as Thor does. The man doesn’t even want the throne, he just doesn’t want either of us to have it! What is stopping us from just throwing him in the dungeon and ruling the bloody realms?” </p><p>“The fact that I don’t trust you, nor do I want to share my throne. I will consider keeping you as a servant though, if you ruled on your own for so long, you must know of where Odin’s vault is. I can’t find the bloody thing. Now hush little brother while I kill Thor.”  She threw a spear at him and it went straight through. An illusion. Another Loki suddenly appeared.</p><p>“First thing you should know about me, sister dear,” then another.</p><p>“Trying to kill Thor is my job.” and another.</p><p>“And the second thing,” and another.</p><p>“Never underestimate the God of Mischief.” He smirked and a green haze appeared and spread wide as an army of Loki’s materialized and charged at Hela. At first she was struggling to keep up with them but she soon grew irritated and she shot out a wave of spears which quickly took out the entire army. She finally saw Loki standing smug. She wrapped her hand around his throat and held him in the air,</p><p>“You know, on second thought, I think I’ll go ahead and kill you now to get you out of the way.”</p><p>“Very well, but can you make it quick? You have a visitor?” She narrowed her eyes at him.</p><p>“What are you playing at?” His grin shone bright as he said one word.</p><p>“Nothing really, just stalling.” </p><p>An explosion was heard and Karai came bursting through the palace, that was now engulfed in flames, and Hela’s dome. She stood taller than her father ever did, and was far more dangerous.</p><p>“Oh shit.” Hela muttered while dropping Loki and charging at Karai. Karai’s fists crashed down on the dome, shattering the rest of it, right before she felt Hela throw a spear into her.</p><p>Their battle shook the stars, Hela charging at Karai with spears and Karai using her sword to lay waste to Asgard, now under the control of flames that ignited her. Thor and everyone else used this as an opportunity to escape.</p><p>“Loki, hurry! We don’t have much time!” Thor called out to him, but he didn’t move. He stood there and Gabe beside him.</p><p>“No, you all go. I’ll find another way, but I can’t leave her.” </p><p>“Loki! Dammit man! The woman isn’t in control anymore and is destroying Asgard, with you still on it! Now get on board before you die trying to save someone already gone!” Loki turned to him and snarled. </p><p>“LEAVE!” Thor huffed in annoyance but closed the door to the ship and it took off. There went Loki’s ride, but he didn’t care. He looked over at Gabe standing beside him.</p><p>“You know you could have been on that ship? She’s going to kill us both later if we end up dead as well.” Gabe just chuffed at him and shook his head and Loki chuckled at him.</p><p>“I feel the same. Well come on, we shouldn’t waste time. Let’s go save our girl.” Gabe leaned down and Loki climbed up onto his back. Loki’s skin turned blue as he turned to his Jotun form to better avoid the chance of being burned. He opted to summon daggers of ice instead of metal for once, and together they charged into the battle.</p><p>“We’ll need to snap her out of the trance. It’s the only way to stop her. I’ll start dousing some of the flames.” Gabe barked in response. </p><p>As they got closer to the flames, Loki climbed off Gabe’s back and gripped his fur, hanging off the side of the wolf. He reached out and while tapping into his Jotun abilities. He began unleashing a small freezing wind onto Asgard and cleared a path for Gabe. Once enough of the flames were doused, Loki climbed onto Gabe's back again only to look up in time to see Karai about to plunge her sword down into Hela and Asgard.</p><p>“NO!” He shot out a wave of seidr towards Karai. It wasn’t strong enough to cause any damage, but it nearly knocked her sword out of her hand and it caught her attention. </p><p>Karai looked at Loki and he visibly flinched at the sight. Despite seeing the blazing flames in her eyes that he had grown to love, they looked cold and lifeless. All she wanted to see at that moment was the destruction of Asgard and she’d destroy anyone that got in her way. The eternal flame was feeding off of all of her anger, causing it to grow in strength. Everything that had ever happened, the bad hand that the Universe had dealt her, she was going to make everyone pay for it.</p><p>“You shall pay for that!” Loki was visibly hesitant on what to do next, but Hela used Karai’s distraction to her advantage. She shot out a spear at Karai’s hand holding the sword, effectively cutting off her hand. Karai cried out in pain, clutching her wrist.</p><p>“Thank you Loki, now help me kill your little girlfriend and I’ll make you second in command in the new Asgard we can build together.” Loki snarled and used his seidr to knock her off of the mountain of spears and into the sea. They’d deal with her once he got Karai back in control. Karai’s hand regenerated and she picked up her sword once again.</p><p>“You are no better than your father. You shall pay for his sins.”</p><p>“Karai, darling. You need to calm down. Think of your children! Think of Gabriel!”</p><p>“Silence lie-smith! You shall not use your silver-tongue to distract me!” She clutched her sword in her hand and swung at Loki and Gabe. Loki teleported them both out of the way. </p><p>“You have to snap out of it or you’ll kill us all!”</p><p>“THEN SO BE IT! I shall finally fulfill my destiny!”</p><p>“YOU’LL ONLY PROVE TO BE THE MONSTER THEY SAID YOU WERE!” His words seemed to have resonate within her because she halted her movements. She stayed there for a moment, shaking her head as she regained a small amount of her humanity. At that moment, Hela Burst out of the sea on a tower of spears.</p><p>“You insolent little shit! You can forget my proposition, you’ll die here along with your little pets!” Hela’s reappearance caught Karai’s attention and her flames burned with fury grew higher around them all.</p><p>“No! No, Karai don’t!” He tried to reach out to her with his seidr but couldn’t. A lot of his power had been drained by now and he was already running on reserve. </p><p>“KARAI! You have to control it!” Hela began shooting spears at Karai again, aiming for her head and trying to get the crown off. </p><p>Karai was battling internally. The anger and feeling of revenge was screaming for her to destroy everything. Destroy what her enemies had loved most, just like Odin had done to her. She raised her sword again.</p><p>“DIE YOU MONSTROSITY!” Hela shot out a spear and hit Karai’s head, only for the spear to slowly melt into her skull. Karai yelled and swung her sword.</p><p>“Oh bloody hel-” Karai’s sword came down on Hela, effectively ending her reign of terror. </p><p>Loki had closed his eyes at the last minute, bracing himself for the impending doom, but it never came. He opened his eyes to find that Gabe had wrapped himself around Loki, protectively. He petted the wolf and pushed out of his embrace. His eyes widened in surprise. Karai stood with her sword still in the same spot, hovering right above the grounds of Asgard. One movement and she could end all of this, she’d finally have her revenge. Asgard was the reason that her family was dead, why her and Julfr were forced to escape to Midgard and raise their children in hiding, why Julfr decided to go to war and he'd died. Everything had been a repercussion of Odin’s actions. Asgard had to pay! But, this wasn’t her. She’d moved beyond all of it and had become content with all that had happened in the last millennium. She’d made friends, she had 18 wonderful children, she had Gabe, she was a top notch hit-woman… She had Loki. Karai grunted in frustration as she fought against herself and finally managed to drop her sword, but that didn’t stop the flames from spiraling out of control around her. The flames rose higher and higher and spread throughout Asgard. She had no control and the fire was quickly surrounding Loki and Gabe.</p><p>Loki began to freeze the grounds around them, trying to keep the flames at bay while formulating a plan to get them to a portal hidden not too far from them along with Karai. He summoned the Casket of Ancient Winters and that’s when an idea came to Karai. It was a long shot but it would save Gabe and Loki.</p><p>"Loki! Aim it at me!" Loki looked at her appalled.</p><p>"No! Absolutely not!"</p><p>"Loki! You have to douse the flames! I can't control it anymore. That’s the only thing that can stop the Eternal Flame. Please just do it!" Loki looked at her conflicted. Either he did it and she'd possibly die, or he didn't and he and Gabe would die and Karai would lose herself anyway and she'd never forgive Loki for letting himself and Gabe die. He had no choice. He turned the Casket towards Karai.</p><p>"I'm sorry my love." </p><p>Karai had already prepared. The Casket could only work if she took out the heart of the flame, or it would still burn again. The veil of the winters was opened and the frost unleashed...upon Karai's heart. He wanted to turn away but watched in horror as she thrashed about and screamed as the frozen winds doused her internal flames. Gabe covered his eyes, not wanting to watch the only mother he ever knew experience such pain.</p><p>The flames surrounding them slowly diminished and Karai began to shrink down. Finally, as she laid on the ground back to her original size, Loki closed the Casket and rushed over to her, Gabe hot on his tail. She was still in her true form as she laid on the ground unmoving. He fell to his knees beside her and lifted her head.</p><p>"Karai. Karai! Come on! You have to wake up!" He'd started to shake her a little. He watched as her breathing returned and he sighed in relief.</p><p>"..Loki.." </p><p>"Shh, it's alright little one. Save your strength." She blinked a few times trying to remember what happened.</p><p>"Is it over?" Loki caressed her cheek and smiled.</p><p>"Yes. It's all over and Hela is no more." Karai sighed in relief.</p><p>"Good." That's when the flame in her cheat flickered. </p><p>"That makes me feel a lot better. " The flickering grew stronger and Loki began to look worried.</p><p>"Darling, are you alright?" She smiled up at him sadly.</p><p>"I'm exactly where I need to be. You need to leave. Extinguishing me didn't save Asgard. I can feel the earth beneath us destabilizing as we speak."</p><p>"Alright then, let's get out of here." He moved to lift her into his arms but she stopped him.</p><p>"Loki, you have to go. I told you to leave before. Why did you stay?" </p><p>“Because, I’m drawn to you like a moth to a flame.”</p><p>“And I you, like frost on the field on a winter morning. But our time together has come to an end, my love.” Her breathing was growing strained and his face fell at her words.</p><p>"No. I won't settle for that. After all of this, I refuse to let you go. We are all going to get out of here and you are going to be just fine, understand?" He lifted her into his arms and called Gabe over and began moving as fast as he could towards the one portal he remembered that led off Asgard. It went straight to Vanaheim but there was one on Vanaheim that went to Midgard. They could even get help while there.</p><p>“...Loki...everything feels so cold…”</p><p>“Don’t worry love, it’s just because I’m Jotun. Here, this should help.” He changed back to his Aesir form and he felt Karai try and snuggle closer to him. He saw the flame in her chest flickering more and he quickened his pace. He saw Karai’s eyes closing and he jerked her awake.</p><p>“Stay with me, love.”</p><p>“But I’m so tired...I’m just gonna take a little nap.”</p><p>“No. Listen to me, you have to stay awake for me.” She heard his words and she really did try to stay awake, but her eyes felt so heavy, and his heartbeat was so soothing. Everything felt so peaceful despite Asgard falling apart underneath them. The rock crevice where the portal was had finally come into sight and Loki felt a bit relieved. He told her it wouldn’t be much longer, but Karai didn’t hear him. She couldn’t hear anything, and her brain could barely make sense of the few glimpses she caught of her surroundings. She could only feel, but not physically, there was a pull inside of her, pulling her away, much like a child pulling an adult's shirt to get them to follow. Everything was fading to black around her and she couldn’t fight the call anymore.</p><p>"...I love you…" She muttered softly as her eyes closed and the flame within her heart finally went out. Loki stopped in his tracks.</p><p>"..Karai?... KARAI!" He fell to his knees with her still clutched in his arms, frantically trying to get her to wake back up. Calling on his remaining seidr to try and heal any wounds, but there were none fatal enough. He chanted a spell that was supposed to bind the soul back to the body, still nothing. He tried setting a fire inside of her chest with some basic pyrokinesis he'd learned. Nothing. No matter what. He’d even tried kissing her like in the old fairy tales he’d read as a child. She wasn’t breathing, there was no heartbeat, no sign of life in her whatsoever. She was gone….</p><p>Loki's chest tightened and is breathing became labored. He felt as if he were being suffocated. He screamed out in anguish as grief overwhelmed him. He didn't hear as Gabe let out a long howl in remorse. Tears streamed down Loki's face as pain and grief wrecked his body. She’d left him, and he was so close. </p><p>The ground shaking beneath them brought Loki back to reality. They were still in danger. Though he didn't care about his own life anymore, he'd promised Karai he'd look out for Gabe and her family. He stood up again and hesitated as he looked down at Karai's lifeless body. Without another thought, he lifted Karai in his arms once again.</p><p>“I’m not giving up yet. I lost my mother, I’m not losing you too.” He muttered, tears still streaming down his face. He began making his way towards the portal again, when a bright blue caught his eye. He walked to get a closer look only to discover the Tesseract hidden under the rubble of the palace. Hope flared within him as he grabbed it firmly and Gabe shrank down and placed a paw on Loki’s foot.</p><p>“I hope this works.”</p><p>A flash of blue and the three of them stood in the Avengers compound, surrounded by earth’s mightiest heroes. The feeling of his body moving through space at such a rate for the first time in years was a bit of sensory overload. It seemed like everything and nothing was happening at the same time, but Loki hadn't been aware of how much the travel tolled on him physically. He had enough sense to quickly vanish the Tesseract from his hand, but it drained any remaining energy Loki had left and he now struggled to stand. He didn't pay attention to the commotion around him as he took a brief moment to get a look at his surroundings before he trudged his way towards a nearby couch. Gabe came to his aid and helped push Loki along until he was able to set Karai down. The Avengers all stared at him in shock as he then turned and faced them, their weapons all drawn but hesitant while Gabe and Karai were in such close proximity. He stood as tall as he could and puffed out his chest, ready to deal with them. He opened his mouth to speak, but as his system began shutting down only 3 words came out of his mouth.</p><p>“Please...help her.” That was all he could get out before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, his body finally gave out, and he collapsed. He heard faint voices around him but nothing registered as everything faded to black.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>One more chapter! You all probably already know the outcome though. Stay tuned for part two on Thursday!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Frost and Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>No summary this time cause I'm not spoiling the ending. Enjoy!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I want to thank everyone for staying with me this long. This story is close to my heart, I had it hiding in my google docs for the past 5 years and I finally decided to share it and I was amazed with the response I got. Thank you so much for your support and I hope you enjoy the last chapter. &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“What the hell is going on?” Tony’s question caught everyone’s attention as he entered the room to see the team gathered around something. Upon closer inspection, his blood ran cold.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aunt Kar!” He ran to her side and let out a curse after feeling that she was cold and the fire that usually lit her body in this form was out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need to get her to my lab STAT!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stark, what about the med bay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck the med bay! You really think some bandages are gonna fix this?!” Tony took matters into his own hands and lifted his godmother into his arms and began rushing off to his lab. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll keep her alive. Friday! Get Karai’s daughter, Rose, here immediately!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got it boss.” The voice of the A.I. rang out in the room as Tony took off towards his lab.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait! Tony! What should we do with Loki? He showed up with her.” Natasha finally questioned and that was the first time Tony noticed Loki passed out on the floor, or that Gabe was following him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you really think I have time for this?! Put him in a cell or something! I don’t give a damn right now!” Tony was out of the room now, Gabe lingering behind for a moment. The wolf turned to see Loki on the floor and then saw the Avengers making their way towards him. Gabe growled at them and they backed off. Seeing that his new friend could not be left alone, Gabe gripped Loki’s cape in his teeth and proceeded to drag the unconscious man with him, all while the Avengers watched in a mixture of shock and amusement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are we really going to let him take a wanted fugitive?” Clint finally asked after Gabe had left the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you seen the size of that thing? He’s bigger than Steve! I for one am not about to get on his bad side.” Rhodey responded and everyone nodded in agreement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*Meanwhile*</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Karai gasped as she opened her eyes in an unfamiliar place. She looked around to see if anything stood out to indicate where she was, but no. Suddenly a figure appeared in front of her. It was a lady clad in shining armor and she had wings, a Valkyrie, she realized. They guided souls in the afterlife. Wait, was she dead?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve come to escort you to Hel.” ‘Wait what?’ she was confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, but was my death not considered that of a warrior?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On the contrary. Your death was that of the bravest of warriors, and your father and mother await you in Valhalla, however, the queen would like to speak with you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘What would the queen of Hel want with her?’ Karai thought as she was led to a dark looking castle that actually resembled the palace in Asgard in many ways.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*Meanwhile on Midgard*</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Loki groaned as he finally regained consciousness on a hard, cold floor. He tried to move his arms and legs, but found they were both bound. His wrists had some kind of special handcuffs that felt a bit weird. He tried to get rid of them and called upon his seidr, only for nothing to happen. He tried again and again for several minutes before sighing in defeat. He was still weak after everything on Asgard, and he’d barely rested after Sakaar. He resigned himself to trying again when he had more strength. He struggled to sit up until he felt a big furry head and wet nose push against his back to help him. He smiled and petted the wolf on his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, dear friend.”  Gabe responded by laying down by Loki so he could rub his head. The wolf’s eyes stayed fixed ahead of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Considering you haven’t escaped, I’m guessing they work?” Loki heard a voice call from the other side of the room and looked up to see Tony Stark busy working on something on a large work bench in the middle of the room. He saw a pair of obsidian feet on the table and felt his chest tighten again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“…How is she?” Loki finally asked, opting to not answer Tony’s question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ve got a reactor hooked up to her to act as an artificial power source and keep her body running. Her kids are on their way, hopefully they can get her going again, but that’s all I can say.” Tony dropped what he was working on and ran his hands across his face in frustration. He braced his hands on the workbench and hung his head down. A few moments went by before he finally spoke again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“…How did this happen?” Loki hesitantly told him about the battle with Hela, bile rising in his throat as he recalled turning the Casket of Ancient Winters against Karai.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why? Why would she risk her life for you?” Loki could hear the malice in Tony’s words, it was hard not to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It wasn’t for me. Hela wanted to control all the Nine Realms, including yours. It was either sacrifice herself or watch all the people she cared about be enslaved or slaughtered.” Tony stayed silent after that. Neither of them spoke and the room held an odd tension until two people came bursting through the door. They looked nearly identical except one was male and the other female. The shared similar thick curly hair and light skin that held a slight bronze undertone. The thing that caught Loki’s attention most were their eyes. They were brown with the same burnt orange undertone as Karai’s did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cousin Tony! What happened?! We came as soon as possi-.” Karai’s daughter, Rose, stopped mid sentence as she saw her mother laid out on the table. She grabbed the arm of her twin brother, Jacob as she started to feel dizzy. He reached out and helped stabilize her until she had gathered her bearings. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tony, what’s wrong? What happened to mom?” Jacob finally asked and Tony felt as if he almost couldn’t look at them as his guilty conscience tried to overtake him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I don’t know. She showed up with Loki who said she was blasted in the heart with some ancient wind and now her flame’s out and she won’t wake up.” Rose finally stood straight again and made her way towards her mother and her brother trailed close behind. Tony stepped back to let them take over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright. This isn’t the first time someone in the family has nearly died, we were troublesome kids after all, it’s just the first time that it’s mom…as far as we know of course. The woman is old as hel, no telling what she put dad through.” She smiled a little at the thought and the two siblings stood over their mother. They closed their eyes and their hands turned to that of lava and rock, like Karai’s. They joined one hand with each other and then each grabbed one of Karai’s hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ancestors, we call upon you. This warrior has lost her way, now grant her flame to light her path again.” Loki and Tony watched in amazement as it looked like the magma that ran through Rose and Jacob’s veins traveled up Karai’s arms and all the way to her chest. The crest over her heart glowed bright again and the twins looked relieved. That was until it went out again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened? Why did it go back out, Jacob?!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I don’t know! This is exactly how mom and dad taught it to us! Unless… Tony, how long has she been out?” Tony looked shocked at being suddenly put on the spot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhh, she’s been on my table for about 2 hours now but I’m not sure how long it took Reindeer games to get her here.” They all looked to Loki then.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was carrying her to safety when her flame went out. I only carried her for a few more minutes before we were able to reach a portal and brought here instantaneously.” Jacob looked back at his slightly older sister who held a look of worry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rose, you don’t think she’s-..” She knew what her brother was implying. That perhaps their mother’s soul had already entered the gates of Valhalla. That she was past the point of no return. Rose shook her head firmly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, absolutely not. Mom isn’t even gone. She’s just lost her way, just like in the ritual. So, we do it again so she can follow the light back, even if we have to keep doing it until she wakes up, understand?” Rose’s tone held a slight firmness and left no room for Jacob to argue. He simply nodded and they went about doing the ritual again and again and again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*Back to Niflheim*</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Valkyrie bowed to the queen upon entry and Karai was frozen to her spot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello little Muspel, nice to see you again so soon.” Of course, Hela was actually the damn queen of Hel. At least the Midgardians Norse Mythology got that part right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want with me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooo, so feisty, I can see why Loki is so smitten with you, I’d love having you for a pet of my own.” Karai gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have asked you here because you are still somewhat tethered to your body and I have the power to send you back if you wish to go.” Karai froze.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? You mean...I’m still alive?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For a few more moments, yes. But we’ll need to move quickly.” Karai narrowed her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s in it for you?” Hela smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My, you are more than just a pretty face. Very well, I wish to be remembered properly. As I am officially dead now, thanks to you, I have no way of getting back. I want all of Yggdrasil to know the truth of Odin and who was the real one that gave him his peaceful reign over the Nine. I want to be remembered as the true Queen of Asgard that I was meant to be. If I can’t have my throne physically, at least I can have it in spirit.” Karai raised an eyebrow at her and Hela rolled her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, I want to be in the good graces of my little Valkyrie again. She’s my last one left. As you may have guessed, I ruled the Valkyrie. Odin turned them against me, and I want her to know that I would never forsake her the way Odin made it seem. She hasn’t visited me since and I miss her.” Karai still didn’t want to trust Hela, but she was right, she had no way of leaving Hel now and if Odin had turned the Valkyrie against her, it was only fair that her last living subject knew the truth, as long as it didn’t cause them any problems. Plus, it meant Karai could go back home to her family…to Loki.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, you have a deal. You will be remembered properly and I will talk to your Valkyrie, but that is it. I’d stay and be tortured in Hel before carrying out any misdeeds for you.” Hela’s grin just grew.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I really like your spirit, I do hope you come and visit me again some time. It’ll be easier for you to come and go from Niflheim from now on. You’ll also experience some slight changes to your biological make up, nothing drastic though. Ta ta!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, what do you mean chang-” Karai suddenly felt an intense pain then everything went dark again. She wasn't sure how much time went by before she felt a bright light shining on her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh thank God!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>*Back to the land of the living*</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hours went by with Jacob and Rose performing the ritual, saying the words over and over again. At this point they both had tears streaming down their faces, as the reality of the situation tried to hit them. Their bodies were tired as they gave more and more of their power to their mother every time they said those words. Tony was even red in the face from tears and had tried to get them to stop at a point, but Rose had inherited her mother’s stubbornness, and Jacob wasn’t going to let his sister stand alone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally after doing it one more time, the flame stayed. All of their eyes went wide as Karai’s chest glowed bright for a minute, then two, and three and so on. Her body slowly changed back to her Midgardian form, except for her father’s crown, and Tony ran to hook another machine up to her and cheered as he got a vital reading. They waited around her patiently, except for Loki, who was still in the corner with Gabe, tapping his feet in anticipation, and another hour went by before Karai finally began to stir. She squinted at the bright lights in her eyes. Audible sighs were heard from several familiar voices. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh thank God!” Karai quickly recognized the voice as Tony before she recognized two other voices. Her first born, Rose with her twin brother, Jacob.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mom? Can you hear me?” Karai cracked open an eye at Rose’s question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cousin Tony called us when he said you showed up in the Avengers Compound nearly dead with Loki.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I had to create an artificial power source for you and had to hook you up to one of my reactors to keep you alive until they got here.” Karai looked to see the cables that had connected her to Tony’s reactor. She slowly sat up and everyone’s eyes went wide as something popped out of Karai’s back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mom, what’s with the horns..and the wings?” Karai looked at Jacob and remembered that her father’s crown still sat on her head.  But she wondered what he meant by wings? That’s when she felt something behind her move.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well that’s new.” She looked to see two white wings now attached to her back, gracefully sitting as though it were the most natural thing in the world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhh, mom?” Karai was brought back to reality at the question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is the crown of our people, a gift from your ancestors. As for these wings, well I’ll have to explain later as I am still trying to understand myself..” He nodded and Karai’s crown slowly receded and turned back to her hair, but the wings stayed where they were. She’d have to find out how to retract them. She was soon ambushed by a hug from Tony.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please don’t ever scare me like that again, Aunt Kar.” Karai smiled as she hugged him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Never on purpose, kiddo.” Tony groaned and released her so Rose and Jacob and Gabe could have their turns. Suddenly realization hit her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, you said I arrived with Loki. Where is he?” Tony pointed over to a corner in the room where the god was sat and bound. You’d think that he’d be upset, but his eyes were alight with joy and relief upon seeing Karai alive. Karai tried to get up and go over to him, only to be pushed back down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hang on mom. I wouldn’t try to walk yet. You were just brought back from the brinks of death. At least rest a little?” Karai sighed and rolled her eyes but relented and stayed on the table. Instead she whistled for Gabe and told him to fetch, to which Gabe responded by walking over to the corner and biting Loki’s cape again to drag him across the floor to Karai. Karai was sure he would be grumpy about being dragged around by a wolf, but he held the brightest smile as Gabe set him by Karai’s table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello darling. Lovely to see you doing well. Wings look exquisite on you, by the way. I thought you were an angel before, but now it appears you really are one.” Loki grinned and Karai smiled down at the god.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought I told you to leave me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did, and I do apologize for not listening...again, but I just couldn’t deprive myself of you. Call it a selfish act, but entirely worth it. By the way, do you mind giving me a hand?” He gestured to his bound hands and feet, his seidr still extremely low at the moment and the bulky cuffs on him weren’t giving. He figured they had to be made of some extremely strong metal in order to restrain a god.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, of course. Tony, can you take it all off please?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“WHAT?! Aunt Kar, he’s a fucking intergalactic fugitive! And he threw me out of a window without knowing about my suit!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Actually-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aye! Not a peep out of you, Reindeer games. I’m sorry Aunt Kar, but there’s no way I’m letting him roam free in my compound.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine. Leave the inhibitors on. I’ll just burn them off later, but if they make you feel better they can stay on.” Tony spluttered in protest but finally relented and took off everything, including the inhibitors, while mumbling something about spending weeks making them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Finally, I can do this properly.” Loki stepped as close as he could to Karai and pulled her into a passionate kiss, their lips molding together perfectly and sending sparks of electricity down their spines and Karai’s new wings fluttered a little behind her. Feelings of love and desire being conveyed into the kiss and the two forgot that they had an audience. Rose, Jacob and Tony stood there with their jaws dropped at the scene unfolding before them, Tony struggling the hardest to comprehend what was going on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What. the. Hell?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nothing mattered to Karai and Loki in that moment. All that mattered was each other. They couldn't hear the outside world, it was as if they were in their own little bubble. Or perhaps they were. They clung to one another, desperately trying to hold on to this feeling. The feeling of relief of this all being over. The feeling of being reunited. The feeling of finally telling each other how they felt and it being reciprocated. The feeling of love that seemed to overwhelm them both. It had them both feeling drunk with power in a way. As if they had the whole world in their hands at that moment. They knew they could do anything together. They may have been opposites, but opposites attract. Like sweet and sour; wet and dry; or Frost and Fire.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yay! Don't you just love a happy ending? I know I left a few plot holes to fill and I plan to do exactly that. This may be the end of Frost and Fire, but this isn't the last we'll see of Loki and Karai. More to come very soon so stay tuned! Subscribe to get updates from me because something new could pop up any day now. Bye for now! &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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